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LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  Of 

•  i  |    ORNIA 

GO 


\  • 


MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES : 


CONSIDERED    UPON  THE    BASIS    Or 


HUMAN     NATURE, 


CONTAINING    AN   EXPOSITION  OF   THK   PRINCIPAL  CAUSES  WHICH   PRODUCE  HUMAN 
SUFFERING  AND   HISERY,   AND   PREVENT    HAN    FROM    ATTAINING 


TRUE    HAPPINESS. 


BY    LE    ROY    POPE, 


VICK  is  a  monster  of  snoh  hid«ous  mi«a, 
As  to  be  hated  needs  hut  to  be  seen ; 
Yet  Been  too  oft,  familiar  with  her  face. 
We  first  endure,  then  pity,  then  embrace. 


PUBLISHED    BY   MACK    R.    BARNITZ, 
BOOK    AND     MAP    PUBLISHER, 

38  AND  40  WEST  FOURTH  STREET. 
CINCINNATI. 

1859. 


N.  B. — Enterprising  meu  wanted  everywhere,  to  circulate  this  and 
other  works. 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1858,  by 
LE  ROY  POPE, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States 

for  the  Southern  District  of  Ohio, 

And  transferred  to  Mack  R.  Barnitz,  (as  per  record  in  Clerk's 
office,)  the  same  year,  by  said  Le  Roy  Pope.  *" 


PEEFACE. 


IT  is  with  the  greatest  solicitude,  and  with  many 
misgivings,  that  this  volume  is  submitted  to  the  in- 
telligent public.  To  arraign  before  the  tribunal  of 
truth  and  reason  those  habits  and  indulgences  which 
society  considers  as  the  virtuous  employments  and 
enjoyments  of  life,  and  there  bring  against  them 
the  charge  of  error,  is  a  task  of  the  greatest  haz- 
ard and  difficulty.  Yet  no  truth,  under  any  circum- 
stances, should  be  disagreeable  to  a  rational  and 
moral  being,  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  should  be  our 
greatest  pleasure  to  search  for  it  wherever  it  may 
be  found,  and  to  store  it  in  the  mind  as  the  most 
inestimable  treasure  which  man  can  gain  upon  earth. 
It  is  the  only  light  which  can  render  rationality 
a  blessing,  and  without  which  reason  acts  in  utter 
darkness,  and  only  more  rapidly  hurries  man  into 
suffering  and  misery. 

How  supremely  important,  then,  is  the  truth  which 
immediately  relates  to  man — that  truth  which  is 
itself  the  system  of  principles  which  governs  hu- 
man nature.  It  displays  the  scheme  of  human  hap- 
piness, and,  consequently,  if  we  would  be  happy, 
we  must  walk  in  its  light,  and  conform  to  the  con- 
ditions which  it  imposes,  otherwise  we  grope  our 
way  in  doubt  and  uncertainty,  and  become  bewil- 

(3) 


4  PREFACE. 

dered  amid  the  unyielding  and  complicated  prin- 
ciples of  nature ;  and,  instead  of  attaining  true 
happiness,  and  beholding  the  beneficence  of  God 
beaming  from  all  his  creations,  life  is  too  fre- 
quently only  a  succession  of  sorrows,  sufferings, 
and  miseries.  Thus  man  fails  to  attain  true  hap- 
piness, not  because  he  is  not  provided  with  all  the 
means  which  are  essential  to  its  attainment,  but 
because  he  fails  to  make  a  proper  use  of  those 

means. 

< 

The  Fancies  and  Follies  of  the  age,  as  considered 
in  this  volume,  are  the  deviations  which  man  has 
made,  or  would  make,  from  truth,  in  regard  to  the 
subjects  considered,  thus  violating  the  principles  of 
his  nature  and  defeating  his  own  happiness.  In 
considering  the  question  of  human  nature,  all  mys- 
tic and  metaphysical  abstractions  have  been  care- 
fully avoided,  as  having,  in  all  ages,  resulted  in 
more  abstruse  error  than  they  have  educed  practical 
truth.  I  have  earnestly  sought  to  divest  myself 
of  all  prejudice,  and  all  opinions  formed  upon  mere 
human  authority,  and  to  copy  what  I  have  written 
from  the  great  book  of  nature  as  it  is  written  by 
its  Omnipotent  Author.  Whether  I  have  been  suc- 
cessful or  not,  I  feel  conscious,  at  least,  that  I  have 
brought  earnestness  and  sincerity  to  the  task,  and 
the  pleasure  which  I  have  derived  from  the  investi- 
gation of  man  has  amply  rewarded  my  labor. 

THE  AUTHOR. 

FRUITHILL,  March  1,  1658. 


CONTENTS. 


ESSAY  I. 

PAGE. 

Woman :  Her  Rights  and  Duties  Politically 
considered, 7 

ESSAY  II. 
The  Undue  Influence  of  Wealth, 79 

ESSAY  IIL 
The  Influence  of  Novel  Reading, 172 

ESSAY  IV. 
The  Follies  of  Fashion, 222 

ESSAY  V. 
Religious  Fancies  and  Follies,        282 

ESSAY  VI. 

Modern  Spiritualism.  —  The  Absurdity  of  its 
Spirituality  exposed,  and  the  Natural  Causes 
•which  produce  the  Phenomena  explained,  .  340 


(5) 


MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES, 


ESSAY    I. 


WOMAN:    HER  RIGHTS    AND  DUTIES  POLITICALLY 
CONSIDERED. 

GRAND  and  imposing  among  the  fancies  and  fol- 
lies of  the  age,  stands  that  of  the  Woman's  Bights 
Movement.  Its  advocates,  now  appealing  directly 
to  the  tenderest  feeling  of  our  nature,  and  attempt- 
ing to  awaken  those  sympathies  which  are  always 
easily  enlisted  in  behalf  of  the  wronged  and  op- 
pressed ;  then  summing  up  the  long  catalogue  of 
Woman's  wrongs,  they  thunder  them  in  the  ears  of 
the  "lords  of  creation,"  and  assert  her  rights  with  an 
earnestness  and  determination,  which  almost  threaten 
to  move  the  firm  rock  of  nature.  They  have  discov- 
ered that  woman  is  not  acting  in  her  proper  sphere, 
that  she  is  oppressed  by  the  yoke  of  social  and 
political  tyranny,  and  that  she  is  unjustly  deprived 
of  rights  and  privileges  which  her  natural  endow- 
ments enable  her,  and  entitle  her  to  enjoy.  They 
have  made  the  startling  discovery  that  she  is  capaci- 
tated by  nature  to  enter  the  arena  of  life's  fiercest 
struggles  in  even-handed  competition  with  man ;  that 
her  natural  powers  will  qualify  her  to  successfully 

(7) 


8  MODERN  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

discharge  political  rights  and  duties,  and,  therefore, 
the  prevailing  system  of  society  which  is  founded 
upon  the  supposition,  that  she  is  not  qualified  by 
nature  for  these  rights,  and  relieves  her  from  the 
duty  of  defending  them  against  aggressors,  and  places 
her  under  the  protection  of  man,  thereby  does  her 
great  wrong. 

But  it  will  be  said  that  the  Woman's  Rights  Move- 
ment does  not  aim  to  establish  a  perfect  equality  of 
rights  and  duties  between  man  and  woman ;  that  it 
does  not  advocate  that  she  should  defend  those  rights 
upon  the  battle-field,  or  even  that  she  should  engage 
in  the  fierce  and  arduous  struggles  and  employments 
of  peaceful  life ;  but  it  will  be  the  object  of  this  essay 
to  show  that  the  rights  which  it  does  claim  for  her, 
necessarily  involve  all  these  duties,  or  they  involve 
the  greatest  injustice  to  man ;  and,  further,  that  the 
establishment  of  the  principles  which  it  advocates, 
would  not  only  unsex  woman,  and  degrade  her  from 
the  only  position  in  which  she  can  exercise  a  con- 
trolling influence  over  human  affairs,  but  that  being 
contrary  to  the  laws  of  nature,  it  must  necessarily 
involve  both  sexes  in  the  most  disastrous  consequen- 
ces. In  order  that  it  may  not  be  supposed  that  we 
are  refuting  the  visionary  theories  of  irresponsible 
fanatics  and  enthusiasts,  we  propose  to  found  our 
reflections  upon  the  resolutions  thoroughly  discussed 
and  adopted  by  the  Annual  Woman's  Rights  Conven- 
tion, held  in  the  City  of  New  York,  on  the  22nd  and 
23rd  of  Nov.  1856,  in  the  proceedings  of  which, 
ladies  and  gentlemen  who  occupy  the  highest  social 
and  religious  positions  participated.  They  are  as 
follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  present  uncertain  and  incon- 
sistent position  of  woman  in  our  community,  not  fully 


WOMAN  S   RIGHTS.  9 

recognized  either  as  a  slave  or  as  an  equal,  taxed,  but 
not  represented,  authorized  to  earn  property,  but 
not  free  to  control  it,  allowed  to  obtain  education, 
but  not  encouraged  to  use  it,  permitted  to  form  po- 
litical opinions,  but  not  allowed  to  vote  them,  all 
mark  a  transitional  period  in  human  history  which 
can  not  long  endure. 

Resolved,  That  the  main  power  of  the  Woman's 
Rights  Movement  lies  in  this  ;  that  while  always  de- 
manding for  woman,  better  education,  better  employ- 
ment, and  better  laws,  it  has  always  kept  steadily  in 
view  the  one  cardinal  demand  for  the  right  of  suf- 
frage, as  being,  in  a  democracy,  the  symbol  and  the 
guarantee  of  all  other  rights. 

Resolved,  That  the  monopoly  of  the  elective  fran- 
chise, and  thereby  all  the  powers  of  legislative  gov- 
ernment by  man,  solely  on  the  ground  of  sex,  is  a 
usurpation,  condemned  alike  by  reason  and  common 
sense;  subversive  of  all  the  principles  of  justice,  op- 
pressive and  demoralizing  in  its  operations,  and  in- 
sulting to  the  dignity  of  human  nature. 

Resolved,  That  while  the  constant  progress  of  laws, 
education,  and  industry,  prove  that  our  efforts  for 
woman  in  these  respects  are  not  wasted,  we  yet  pro- 
claim ourselves  unsatisfied,  and  are  only  encouraged 
to  renewed  efforts,  until  the  whole  be  gained. 

In  one  of  these  resolutions  the  right  of  suffrage  is 
distinctly  claimed  as  being  the  "  main  pwwer  of  the 
Woman's  Rights  Movement."  Now  what  powers 
and  responsibilities  does  the  right  of  suffrage  confer, 
and  what  duties  are  inseparably  connected  with  its 
exercise.  In  a  democracy  like  ours,  all  the  functions, 
powers  and  emoluments  of  government,  are  placed 
unreservedly  in  the  hands  of  those  who  exercise  the 
elective  franchise,  and  consequently  those  who  are 


10  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

invested  with  this  right,  may  change  its  form,  may 
strengthen  or  waken  its  power,  or  may  plunge  it  into 
dangers  and  difficulties  from  which  nothing  but  the 
united  strength  and  energy  of  the  nation  can  extri- 
cate it.  All  political  power  emanates  from  the  voters, 
and  is  delegated  by  them  to  their  public  functionaries, 
who  act  under  the  most  sacred  trust,  and  after  a 
brief  period,  it  again  recurs  to  those  who  gave  it. 
Now  it  is  a  political  maxim  which  justice  and  equality 
imperatively  demand,  that  those  who  are  thus  either 
directly  or  indirectly  invested  with  all  the  powers 
of  government,  and  upon  whose  political  action  its 
fortunes  depend,  should  also  equally  discharge  the 
duties  of  defending  it  against  the  dangers  which 
may  threaten  its  destruction. 

Now  equal  rights  most  certainly  incur  equal  duties, 
and,  therefore,  those  who  can  not  perform  the  duties, 
are  not  in  justice  entitled  to  enjoy  the  rights.  What 
could  be  more  obviously  unjust  than  to  relieve  one 
half  of  all  those  who  control  the  government,  of  all 
responsibility  in  regard  to  its  defense?  No  despotism 
was  ever  founded  upon  more  unjust  principles.  If 
woman  was  invested  with  political  rights,  and  yet 
relieved  from  the  essential  duties  which  sustain  those 
rights,  it  is  evident  that  man  would  be  much  wronged, 
for  while  all  the  responsibility  of  defending  and  sus- 
taining the  body  politic  would  fall  upon  him ;  it  might 
be  plunged  into  dangers  and  difficulties  which  were 
not  the  results  of  his  own  actions,  and  which  he  had 
no  power  to  prevent.  Hence  not  only  justice,  but 
the  safety  of  the  government  requires,  that  if  woman 
be  invested  with  equal  political  rights  with  man,  she 
must  also  equally  discharge  the  duties  which  are 
created  by  the  exercise  of  those  rights.  But  no  ad- 
vocate of  woman's  rights  will  contend  that  it  is  the 
proper  sphere  of  woman  to  enter  the  battle-field  in 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  11 

defense  of  those  institutions  which  her  political  con- 
duct might  endanger,  therefore  the  supposed  reform 
is  founded  in  injustice  and  error. 

But  she  is  not  only  incapable  of  discharging  those 
duties  which  are  created  by  the  exercise  of  political 
rights,  but  she  is  also  incapable  of  exercising  the 
rights  themselves,  without  robbing  her  of  all  the 
loveliest  charms  of  her  nature,  and  degrading  her 
from  the  exalted  social  position  which  she  now  occu- 
pies. Woman  is  controlled  more  by  passion  and  less 
by  reason  than  man,  her  average  mental  and  physi- 
cal powers  are  inferior  to  his,  and  hence  she  might 
more  readily  be  made  the  political  tool  of  designing 
intriguers.  She  is  more  conscientious  and  confiding 
than  man,  and  while  she  was  intending  to  discharge 
her  high  trust  with  the  utmost  good  faith,  she  might 
be  more  easily  led  to  make  a  most  disastrous  use  of 
her  newly  acquired  rights.  There  is  no  supreme 
earthly  tribunal  which  has  jurisdiction  over  the  con- 
duct of  nations,  and  unfortunately  the  moral  laws, 
which  should  be  of  binding  force  upon  all  mankind, 
do  not  govern  nations  in  their  intercourse  with  each 
other,  and  hence  it  is,  as  all  history  demonstrates, 
that  political  rights  must  be  maintained  by  physical 
force  ;  but  as  woman  is  by  nature  utterly  disqualified 
to  discharge  these  duties,  it  follows  that  if  this  new 
reformation  were  effected,  man  would  invest  her  with 
rights  which  God  has  denied  her  the  power  to  main- 
tain. 

Now  it  is  obvious  that  as  woman  is  the  weaker 
vessel,  and  physically  and  intellectually  inferior  to 
man,  that  whatever  rights  and  privileges  she  does  en- 
joy, she  must  enjoy  by  the  protection  of  man.  This 
is  so  completely  in  accordance  with  all  the  designs 
of  nature,  and  the  teachings  of  all  religion,  that  it 
certainly  is  unnecessary  to  offer  argument  to  sustain 


12  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

it,  and  hence  it  follows  that,  whenever  she  forfeits  the 
protection  of  man,  by  becoming  politically  his  equal, 
she  not  only  places  in  the  greatest  jeopardy  those  po- 
litical rights,  but  also  those  social  privileges  and  en- 
joyments which  now  constitute  her  the  supreme  ruler 
of  all  the  purest  affections  of  the  human  heart,  and  en- 
list in  her  behalf  the  noblest  emotions  of  man's  nature. 
He  now  feels  that  she  is  a  sacred  charge  intrusted 
to  his  protection,  and  hence  he  devotes  his  life  to 
her  enjoyment,  sheds  his  blood  in  her  defense,  and 
concedes  to  her  a  social  position  far  above  himself. 
He  manfully  meets  the  severest  struggles  and  hard- 
ships of  life  to  lay  before  her  every  comfort  and  en- 
joyment ;  or,  when  his  country  calls  him  to  her  de- 
fense, there  is  nothing  which  nerves  his  arm  with  so 
strong  a  power,  or  infuses  into  his  soul  the  fire  of 
courage  and  patriotism,  as  the  thoughts  of  that  affec- 
tionate and  confiding  wife,  and  those  beloved  children, 
who  are  clustering  around  the  hearthstone  of  his  home. 
But  as  soon  as  she  is  invested  with  the  political  rights 
demanded  in  these  resolutions,  she  becomes  politically 
equal  with  man ;  and,  as  the  idea  of  one  equal  being 
placed  under  the  protection  of  another  equal,  is  utterly 
absurd,  she  thereby  forfeits  the  protection  of  man  ; 
and,  as  it  is  an  established  fact  that  her  mental  and 
physical  inferiority  will  prevent  her  from  enjoying 
any  rights  and  privileges,  except  by  the  protection 
of  man,  she  would  soon  not  only  be  deprived  of  her 
political  rights,  but  she  would  also  be  degraded  from 
the  exalted  position  which  she  now  occupies. 

But  further,  in  this  age  of  bitter  political  strife,  so 
prolific  of  political  parties,  were  woman  invested 
with  the  rights  demanded,  it  would  most  probably 
divide  the  opposite  sexes  into  antagonistic  political 
parties.  New  interests  would  unavoidably  arise 
upon  the  introduction  of  a  new  power  of  such 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  13 

controlling  influence,  and  they  would  be  interests 
such  as  have  never  yet  agitated  any  government ;  in- 
terests which  result  from  the  distinctions  of  sex — the 
opposite  sexes  being  engaged  in  the  bitterest  politi- 
cal contention,  each  striving  to  enlarge  its  own 
rights,  and  to  trample  upon  those  of  the  other,  and 
each  resorting  to  all  the  intrigues  known  to  political 
baseness  and  corruption,  to  gain  the  preponderance 
of  power,  until  the  fabric  of  government  should  reel 
and  totter  upon  its  basis,  amid  the  violent  political 
concussion. 

Oh,  what  a  lovely  employment  for  woman  !  How 
it  would  exalt  the  purity  of  her  nature,  and  increase 
the  charms  of  her  loveliness!  And  how  it  would 
purify  that  native  goodness  and  affection  which  is 
the  spontaneous  outgushing  of  every  true  woman's 
heart!  And  what  a  lovely  and  fascinating  being  she 
would  be,  as  she  emerged  from  the  angry  current  of 
political  strife;  all  reeking  with  political  corruption 
and  nastiness  !  And  still  further,  woman  being  the 
weaker  vessel,  must,  necessarily,  be  unsuccessful  in 
her  effort  to  gain  political  power,  and  the  result 
would  appear  inevitable,  that  she  must  be  hurled 
from  the  proud  position  which  she  now  occupies  in 
the  temple  of  civilization,  and  be  again  plunged  into 
that  deep  degradation  and  misery,  in  which  she  has 
toiled  during  so  many  ages  of  her  existence. 

We  have  said  that  woman  was  physically  and  men- 
tally inferior  to  man.  We  shall  not  enter  into  any 
lengthened  argument  to  establish  the  fact,  for  its  truth 
can  not  be  so  incontrovertibly  established  by  human 
reasoning,  as  it  is  by  the  arguments  of  Nature,  which 
are  reiterated  by  every  day's  experience.  We  must 
not  be  understood  to  be  speaking  in  disparagement 
of  female  character,  for  woman  has  many  beautiful 
and  lovely  traits  of  character  which  man  is  incapa- 


14  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

ble  of  attaining ;  but  these  lovely  gems  can  never  be 
displayed  in  her  character  as  a  politician,  and  we  are 
now  considering-^  her  in  that  capacity.  We  shall  be 
pleased  to  dwell  upon  these  beauties  hereafter.  It 
is  true  that  some  female  names  stand  high  in  the  list 
of  our  best  authors  and  greatest  rulers,  and  the  advo- 
cates of  woman's  rights  displaying  these  great  names 
and  deeds  before  us,  triumphantly  ask  if  woman  may 
not  be  a  stateswoman  and  a  politician?  Now  as 
these  resolutions  do  not  demand  the  right  of  suffrage 
for  individuals,  but  for  the  whole  sex,  we  shall  not 
stop  to  consider  the  capacities  of  individuals. 

It  is  true  that  the  names  of  De  Stael  and  Madame 
Roland,  of  Catharine  of  Russia  and  Maria  Theresa 
shine  forth  with  a  dazzling  brightness  among  the 
great  characters  which  have  ennobled  human  nature ; 
but  these  appear  along  the  course  of  receding  time 
only  an  occasional  star,  which  shines  thus  brightly 
above  the  great  level  of  humanity,  while  in  every 
age  of  the  world  the  opposite  sex  has  produced 
numerous  intellectual  giants  who  have  controlled 
contemporary  events  and  shaped  the  destinies  of  suc- 
ceeding generations.  Nor  will  it  answer  to  urge  that 
her  intellectual  faculties  have  been  fettered  by  laws 
or  custom,  for  the  world  of  letters  has  always  been 
freely  opened  to  her,  and  the  shelves  of  our  book- 
stores and  libraries  are  now  filled  with  love-sick 
novels,  which  are  the  results  of  her  intellectual 
efforts. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  she  has  been  prevented 
from  engaging  in  the  study  and  practice  of  the  pro- 
fessions and  those  employments  of  life  which  develop 
the  intellectual  faculties.  How?  By  laws?  No. 
By  custom  ?  If  so  it  was  of  her  own  formation. 
Yet  it  is  true  she  has  been  prevented.  By  whom? 
By  the  God  of  nature.  She  has  a  natural  and  unsur- 


WOMAN'S  EIGHTS.  15 

mountable  hatred  for  the  abstruse  principles  and  dry 
technicalities  of  professional  study,  and  even  when 
she  masters  these,  her  physical  powers  will  not 
enable  her  to  successfully  discharge  „  their  arduous 
duties.  When  she  thus  attempts  to  discharge  those 
duties  of  life  which  require  the  energies  of  a  sterner 
nature,  she  is  removed  from  her  proper  sphere  of 
action,  and  is  thus  deprived  of  all  those  sweet  charms 
of  her  nature,  that  heavenly  affection  and  those  pure 
emotions  which  seem  to  elevate  her  above  the  sphere 
of  man,  and  she  seems  a  lovely  being,  forming  a  con- 
necting link  between  fallen  humanity  and  angelic 
loveliness. 

Her  nature  is  not  formed  of  such  stern  and  sub- 
stantial materials  as  man's,  but  more  lovely  and 
heavenly ;  and  she  is  no  more  his  equal  in  the  stern 
and  rugged  struggles  of  professional  and  business 
life,  than  he  is  her  equal  in  the  purer  and  nobler 
offices  of  kindness  and  love.  The  poet  has  very  truly 
said, 

"Women  are  soft,  mild,  pitiful,  and  flexible, 
Thou — stern,  obdurate,  flinty,  rough,  remorseless." 

SHAKSPEARE. 

God  has  placed  his  emphatic  No  upon  all  com- 
binations or  changes  of  these  great  destructive  natural 
qualities  which  are  peculiar  to  each  sex ;  and  all  the 
woman's  rights  advocates  and  conventions,  and  all 
the  human  laws  which  could  be  enacted  between  now 
and  the  day  of  judgment,  could  not  alter  them  in  the 
least,  or  make  woman  a  successful  politician,  and  yet 
be  a  true  woman ;  or  give  man  the  attractive  grace 
and  milder  and  purer  passions  of  woman,  and  yet  be 
a  true  man.  Man  might  as  well  enact  that  the  earth 
shall  stand  firm,  and  the  sun  and  planets  revolve 
around  it,  as  to  enact  that  woman  shall  be  equal  to 
man,  or  man  equal  to  woman,  or  that  either  shall 


16  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

perform  the  duties  which  the  scheme  of  Nature 
requires  shall  be  performed  only  by  the  other ;  for 
one  natural  law  can  be  repealed  or  amended  by 
human  legislation  just  as  easily  as  another.  Milton 
has  said, 

"For  contemplation  he  and  valor  formed, 
For  Softness  she  and  sweet  attractive  grace, 
He  for  God  only,  she  for  God  and  him." 

It  is  thus  obvious  that  the  very  nature  of  woman 
forms  an  impassable  barrier  to  the  successful  exercise 
of  the  rights  and  proper  discharge  of  the  duties  of 
political  life.  She  is  both  mentally  and  physically 
incapable  of  enjoying  these  rights  and  privileges. 
She  would  thus  forfeit  and  disclaim  the  protection 
of  man;  and,  being  inferior  to  him  in  all  those 
natural  endowments  which  are  essential  to  success, 
she  would  thus  engage  in  an  even-handed  contest 
with  him  in  all  the  fiercest  and  most  embittered 
struggles  of  life.  It  would  be  inevitable  that  she 
would  not  only  fail  to  maintain  her  political  equality, 
but  also  that  the  very  efforts  which  she  must  neces- 
sarily make,  would  blight  all  the  fairest  charms  and 
beauties  of  her  nature,  and  transform  her  from  a 
guardian  angel,  administering  the  kind  offices  of 
devoted  love  and  affection,  into  a  wrangling  politi- 
cian, enforcing  her  arguments  with  a  broomstick. 

The  most  lovely  beauty  which  civilization  has  im- 
pressed upon  the  features  of  humanity,  the  brightest 
radiance  which  the  star  of  human  progress  has  ever 
shed  upon  the  actions  of  men,  is  unquestionably  the 
elevation  of  woman  to  her  present  position  in  society. 
Who  can  contemplate  the  condition  of  woman  during 
the  dark  ages  of  human  existence,  without  feelings 
of  mingled  sympathy  and  indignation  ?  Bound  down 
by  the  fetters  of  an  abject  slavery,  and  toiling  at 
those  pursuits  which  are  most  uncongenial  to  her  na- 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  17 

ture,  she  was  cold-hearted,  revengeful  and  degraded ; 
without  those  pure  emotions,  chastened  passions, 
and  lovely  virtues,  which  ennoble  the  truly  accom- 
plished woman.  Long  and  deeply  did  she  suffer,  as 
through  all  the  ages  of  her  oppression,  generation 
succeeded  generation,  only  to  suffer  the  wrongs  and 
indignities,  which  had  been  suffered  by  its  prede- 
cessor, until  the  burning  light  of  civilization  dissolved 
the  fetters  of  her  thralldom,  and  she  appeared  in  the 
lovely  light  of  her  exalted  nature,  and  by  the  power 
of  her  very  gentleness  and  love,  holds  in  check  the 
more  fierce  and  wayward  passions  of  man's  nature. 
How  powerful  and  holy  is  the  influence  of  the  true 
woman.  Always  pleading  the  cause  of  virtue,  she 
strews  its  path  with  the  sweetest  charms  of  her  na- 
ture, and  as  those  over  whom  heaven  has  appointed 
her  to  rule  by  the  power  of  love,  gradually  relieve 
themselves  of  her  gentle  influence,  as  they  depart 
farther  into  the  ways  of  transgression,  her  energies 
are  strengthened,  and  she  more  devotedly  labors  to 
reclaim  them  from  the  doom  of  vice  and  misery. 
And  when  the  stern  nature  of  man  faints  despond- 
ingly  under  the  heavy  strokes  of  adversity,  or  his 
stawlwart  frame  lies  prostrate  and  helpless  under  the 
influence  of  disease,  then  the  divinest  qualities  of  fe- 
male nature  shine  forth  in  their  loveliest  light, 

O  7 

brightening  as  the  gloom  thickens,  and  like  some 
ministering  angel,  she  watches  around  the  couch  of 
pain,  ever  happy  when  she  can  relieve  the  patient 
sufferer  or  the  heavy  heart,  by  the  free  offerings  of 
purest  kindness  and  affection,  and  when  the  shades 
of  death  are  gathering  around  the  frail  sufferer,  and 
the  fading  eye  yet  lingers  upon  the  receding  shores 
of  time,  0,  in  such  an  hour  it  is  heaven's  sweetest 
and  dearest  privilege  to  dying  humanity,  to  be  sur- 
rounded by  mother,  wife,  and  sisters,  that  the  last 
2 


18  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

earthly  thought  may  dwell  upon  heaven's  purest  of- 
fering, and  as  the  faltering  lips  are  growing  chilly  in 
the  cold  grasp  of  death,  to  receive  the  burning  kiss 
of  a  devoted  aifection,  over  which  death  holds  no  do- 
minion, and  as  the  soul  takes  its  eternal  flight  from 
its  earthly  tenement,  it  receives  the  parting  endear- 
ments of  woman's  truest  love,  and  while  they  are 
yet  still  lingering  upon  the  soul,  it  enters  its  eternal 
abode : 

"  O,  fairest  of  creation,  last  and  best 
Of  all  God's  works,  creature  in  whom  excelled 
Whatever  can  to  sight  or  thought  be  formed, 
Holy,  divine,  good,  amiable,  or  sweet."  MILTON. 

Such  is  the  divine  mission  of  woman,  such  is  the 
loveliness  of  her  unperverted  nature,  when  she  moves 
in  her  proper  sphere  of  action,  and  thus  properly 
exercises  all  the  lovely  qualities  with  which  her  Crea- 
tor has  endowed  her.  But  when  she  deviates  from 
this  sphere,  and  would  act  in  one  for  which  she  is 
not  qualified  by  nature,  she  would  thereby  defeat  the 
scheme  of  her  happy  existence,  and  suffer  the  penal- 
ties of  her  violated  nature.  And  how  often  is  the 
beautiful  picture  of  true  female  character  marred  and 
stained  by  the  popular  fancies  and  follies  of  the  day; 
and  while  many  would  seem  to  be  true  women,  the 
polished  surface  and  bewitching  exterior  only  con- 
ceal a  selfish  and  deceitful  heart. 

But  behold  woman  in  her  present  civilized  condi- 
tion, the  petted  favorite  of  modern  society,  enjoying 
the  best  comforts  and  choicest  luxuries  of  life,  and 
placed  far  above  the  anxious  cares  and  exhausting 
struggles  which  beset  its  more  rugged  walks,  ex- 
empted from  its  most  stern  and  laborious  duties,  and 
occupying  the  reserved  and  privileged  seats  in  the 
great  temple  of  human  society.  Would  you  still  far- 
ther elevate  her  condition,  by  conferring  upon  her 


WOMANS  RIGHTS.  1 

additional  rights  and  privileges?  Beware:  if  the 
exercise  of  these  rights,  and  privileges  are  uncon- 
genial to  her  nature,  you  necessarily  endanger  all 
the  blessings  and  privileges  which  she  now  enjoys. 
God  knows,  we  would  aid,  with  whatever  power  we 
possess,  any  reform  which  could  elevate  and  purify 
female  character ;  for  the  condition  of  the  human 
race  is  always  determined  by  the  position  which 
woman  occupies  in  society,  and  for  the  same  reason, 
we  will  oppose  to  the  utmost,  any  movement  which 
may  threaten  to  destroy  her  present  influence. 

It  is  true  that  woman  suffers  many  hardships.  She 
is  frequently  treated  as  she  ought  not  to  be.  But  is 
not  this  the  common  lot  of  mankind  ?  Do  they  expect 
to  relieve  her  of  all  the  trials  and  troubles  of  life ; 
and  that  she  shall  never  suffer  a  wrong  at  the  hands 
of  her  fellow-beings  ?  Do  they  expect  to  exempt  her 
from  the  inexorable  condition  of  her  earthly  exist- 
ence ?  Does  not  man,  with  all  his  usurped  rights, 
suffer  frequent  hardships  and  great  wrongs  at  the 
hands  of  his  fellow-man  ?  Is  not  woman  herself 
some  times  in  fault?  Ah,  a  reformation  is  much 
needed  here,  but  it  can  not  be  effected  by  laws  en- 
acted by  the  legislature  and  recorded  in  the  statute 
book,  but  only  by  correct  principles  impressed  upon 
the  mind  and  registered  in  the  human  heart,  so  that 
each  individual  may  at  all  times  turn  to  that  faithful 
repository,  and  there  read  the  golden  rules  which  are 
to  govern  him  in  all  his  transactions  with  his  fellow 
beings. 

Woman,  therefore,  while  she  retains  the  frailties 
and  imperfections  of  human  nature,  can  not  be  en- 
tirely relieved  from  -individual  instances  of  wrong 
and  oppression ;  but  it  can  not  be  successfully  denied 
that  she  now  occupies  the  most  elevated  position  in 
civilized  society.  Indeed,  she  is  made  too  much  a 


20  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

toy;  the  mere  ornament  of  society,  instead  of  its 
useful  and  efficient  aid.  Man  worships  at  the  shrine 
of  woman;  in  all  his  deportments  he  studies  to 
please  her ;  and  it  would  seem  as  though  his  only 
aim  were  to  smooth  down  the  rough  places  in  the 
rugged  journey  of  life,  so  that  the  fragile  and  gen- 
tle being  committed  to  his  charge  may  pass  down 
the  turbulent  stream  of  time  uninjured  by  its  dan- 
gers, and  undisturbed  by  its  fierce  contentions.  He 
meets  the  cares  and  troubles  of  life  with  a  manly 
pride,  and  perseveringly  encounters  all  its  labors 
and  drudgeries,  in  order  that  he  may  offer  the  re- 
ward of  his  toil  to  gratify  her  every  wish,  and  even 
her  vanities  and  follies.  He  only  asks  in  return  the 
kind  offerings  of  her  confiding  love. 

While  woman  is  thus  securely  and  happily  en- 
throned in  her  kingdom  of  love,  enjoying  the  rarest 
benefits  of  civilized  society,  and  safely  reposing  under 
the  protection  of  man,  with  all  the  noblest  emotions 
of  his  nature  enlisted  in  her  behalf,  what  evil  spirit 
can  have  again  whispered  in  her  ear  to  tempt  her  to 
forsake  the  sphere  of  her  proper  duty,  to  enter  the 
political  arena  amid  scenes  of  strife  and  bitter  con- 
tention, where  her  feeble  powers  can  give  her  no 
hope  of  success,  and  which  must  inevitably  deprive 
her  of  all  the  sweetest  charms  of  her  nature?  The 
argument  may  be  recapitulated  thus:  that  woman 
now  occupies  the  highest  social  position  in  civilized 
society ;  that  she  is  not  mentally  or  physically  ca- 
pable of  sustaining  herself  there,  and  must,  there- 
fore, be  sustained  in  her  present  position  by  the 
protection  of  man ;  that  by  being  invested  with 
equal  rights  she  assumes  equal  duties,  and  becomes 
his  political  equal ;  that  by  becoming  his  equal  she 
forfeits  and  renounces  his  protection,  and,  therefore, 
must  not  only  fail  to  sustain  her  political  equality, 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.'  21 

but  must  also  be  degraded  from  her  present  social 
position. 


A  pure  and  noble  patriotism  is  that  of  woman,  but 
it  is  not  that  patriotism  which  displays  its  valorous 
deeds  upon  the  field  of  battle,  nor  expels  the  invad- 
ing foe ;  but  it  is  that  pure  and  devoted  patriotism 
which  infuses  itself  into  the  sterner  and  fiercer  na- 
ture of  man.  It  is  that  patriotism  which  sparkles 
around  the  fireside,  and  impresses  a  noble  courage 
and  a  true  love  of  country  upon  the  budding  mind 
of  the  youthful  hero;  and,  in  after  years,  it  weighs 
powerfully  in  the  scale  which  is  to  decide  the  fate 
of  her  country — for  when  the  patriot  son  meets  the 
ruthless  foe  upon  the  bloody  field,  and  there  per- 
forms deeds  of  valor  which  secure  his  country's  lib- 
erty, it  is  only  the  matured  fruits  of  that  devoted 
patriotism  which  was  implanted  and  nurtured  in  the 
mind  of  the  son  by  the  patriot  mother. 

Hers  is  that  patriotism,  which,  like  the  Spartan 
mother,  can  urge  her  son  to  "  return  with  or  upon 
his  shield;"  it  is  that  gentle  influence  which  invested 
the  patriotism  of  man  with  all  its  nobleness,  and 
without  which  it  would  degrade  itself  into  mere  bul- 
lyism ;  for  the  only  principle  which  can  divest  war 
of  its  horrid  crimes  and  justify  human  carnage,  is 
the  defense  of  a  beloved  home  and  its  cherished  in- 
mates— and  what  can  so  effectually  arouse  to  action 
all  the  noblest  energies  of  our  nature  as  the  thoughts 
of  that  confiding  wife  and  those  cherub  children, 
who  are  clustering  round  its  fireside,  the  dearest  of 
all  earthly  loves  and  treasures,  who  are  relying  with 
devoted  helplessness  upon  the  efforts  of  their  only 
earthly  protector?  0,  how  the  thoughts  of  these 
distant  loved  ones  nerves  the  arm  and  inspires  the 


22  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

soul,  until  all  the  frailties  and  baseness  of  human 
nature  are  consumed  in  the  burning  blaze  of  patriot- 
ism ;  until  man,  like  the  fabled  gods  of  old,  plunges 
into  the  fiery  arena  of  the  fiercest  struggle,  and 
moves  with  majestic  grandeur,  amid  the  devouring 
elements  of  the  battle-field. 

We  have  said  that  the  exercise  of  political  rights 
would  rob  woman  of  the  sweetest  charms  of  her  na- 
ture. Let  us  see  how  and  why.  As  woman  in  her 
proper  sphere  is  superior  to  man  in  all  those  purer 
and  more  lovely  emotions  of  human  nature,  so  every 
day's  observation  teaches  us  that  when  once  she  is 
floating  in  the  current  of  degrading  vice,  she  reck- 
lessly loosens  all  her  holds  upon  the  solid  fastening 
of  virtue  and  morality,  and  becomes  lost  to  every 
feeling  and  passion  which  can  ennoble  human  nature, 
and  sinks  deeper  into  the  depths  of  misery  and  de- 
gradation than  the  opposite  sex  ever  reaches.  Thus 
she  is  capable  of  rising  higher  and  sinking  lower,  in 
the  scale  of  being,  than  man.  This  is  because  her 
intellectual  endowments  are  inferior  to  those  of  man, 
while  her  passions  are  stronger  than  his.  Thus  she 
has  stronger  passions,  with  less  reason  and  judgment 
to  control  them. 

She  is  a  creature  of  passion.  It  is  her  nature. 
Her  soul  is  enraptured  by  passion,  and  yielding  to 
its  impulses,  she  floats  through  life  upon  its  current. 
Hence  it  is  that  the  passion  of  love  is  much  stronger 
in  woman  than  in  man.  It  is  her  nature  to  love. 
When  her  affections  are  once  thoroughly  enlisted, 
she  surrenders  unconditionally  to  the  impulses  of  her 
passion,  and  all  the  thoughts  and  hopes  of  life  are 
centered  upon  the  object  of  her  love,  to  whom  she  is 
attached  by  the  strongest  and  most  enduring  ties  of 
her  nature.  And  when  death  rudely  enters  this  fairy- 
like  scene  of  earthly  happiness,  and  snatches  away 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  2 

the  object  of  all  her  earthly  affections,  often  the  dis- 
appointed passion  consumes  the  energies  of  life,  the 
bewitching  smile  no  longer  plays  amid  the  dimpled 
beauties,  the  joyous  laugh  is  hushed  into  the  melan- 
choly sigh.  Man  does  not  yield  thus  to  the  moije 
delicate  passions  of  his  nature.  His  nature  is  too 
stern.  He  loves  devotedly,  but  not  with  his  whole 
soul. 

Hence  it  is  that  when  the  passions  of  woman  are 
chastened  by  virtue,  when  only  the  purest  and  most 
exalted  of  her  nature  are  enlisted,  that  she  almost 
seems  to  move  in  a  sphere  above  that  of  fallen 
humanity,  and  the  spirit  of  loveliness  beams  forth 
in  purity  and  beauty  in  all  her  ways,  and  she  thus 
becomes  the  "fairest  of  creation."  But  if,  on  the 
contrary,  instead  of  those  passions  which  elevate  her 
nature,  only  those  which  degrade  it  are  enlisted,  if 
she  is  thus  swept  along  in  the  downward  current  of 
vice,  if  her  passions  are  thus  perverted  amid  scenes 
of  dissipation  and  wrong,  they  fasten  themselves  into 
her  very  nature  with  a  fatal  firmness,  and  drag  her 
down  to  the  lowest  state  of  misery  and  woe. 

If  we  take  the  retrospect  of  human  history,  and 
look  around  upon  the  nations,  we  shall  find  that  the 
position  which  woman  occupies  in  society  is  the  true 
exponent  of  a  nation's  civilization  and  prosperity, 
and  hence  it  is  obvious  that  there  can  be  nothing 
of  more  vital  importance  to  the  welfare  and  happi- 
ness of  humanity,  than  that  all  the  most  virtuous  and 
lovely  passions  of  her  nature  should  be  enlisted,  that 
she  should  be  carefully  sustained  in  that  sphere  of 
action  which  is  most  congenial  to  her  nature,  anil 
that  female  character  should  be  religiously  protected 
as  the  firm  fastening,  and  great  bulwark  of  public 
and  private  virtue  arid  morality.  While  we  keep 
these  principles  steadily  in  view,  let  us  seriously 


24  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

aim  to  ascertain  the  real  influence  which  the  ex- 
ercise of  political  rights  would  have  upon  female 
character. 

Of  all  the  duties  which  are  devolved  upon  man  by 
his  earthly  situation,  none,  nor  even  all  others,  so 
effectually  arouse  into  action  all  the  fiercest  passions 
of  human  nature,  as  the  bitter  strife  and  contention, 
which,  in  the  present  state  of  man's  moral  develop- 
ment, seems  to  be  inseparably  connected  with  the 
exercise  of  political  rights.  Political  ambition,  when 
it  obtains  possession  of  the  mind,  is  the  strongest 
passion  of  human  nature.  None  so  humble,  none  so 
devoid  of  the  earthly  vanities,  as  to  be  indifferent  to 
the  glitter  of  political  glory  and  power.  It  is  a  pas- 
sion implanted  by  the  master  hand  of  heaven  in  the 
mind  of  every  compos  mentis  member  of  the  human 
race.  With  whatever  affected  contempt,  or  however 
indifferent  some  persons  may  appear  to  its  prompt- 
ings, yet  the  passion  dwells  within  them,  and  although 
it  may  not  burst  forth  amid  the  lurid  glare  of  war,  or 
the  thunders  of  artillery  and  the  clangor  of  arms 
may  not  be  its  sweetest  music,  or  it  may  not  receive 
its  gratification  from  the  pomp  and  pride  of  office, 
yet  the  desire  to  reach  honorable  position,  and  to 
achieve  earthly  power  and  glory,  is  the  mainspring  of 
human  action,  and  heaves  its  emotions  in  every  breast. 

Being  thus  the  most  universal,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  strongest  passion  of  human  nature,  it  very 
naturally  results  that  its  perversion  has  been  the 
great  moving  power  which  has  caused  the  greatest 
commotions  and  the  fiercest  struggles  which  have 
ever  convulsed  society.  It  has  caused  desolations 
without  number,  oppressions  and  outrages  without 
limit,  and  injustice  and  cruelties  of  the  most  heart- 
less character.  It  has  swept  nations  from  indepen- 
dent existence,  and  sought  its  unholy  gratification 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  25 

amid  the  smoke  of  burning  cities,  and  the  flow  of 
human  hlood.  And  although  the  political  contests 
which  agitate  nations  in  times  of  peace  are  less  fierce 
and  bloody,  yet  they  are  invariably  more  corrupt  and 
dishonest,  and  it  is  but  too  true  that  most  of  the 
intrigues  and  artifices  resorted  to,  in  order  to  obtain 
political  power  and  glory,  are  too  frequently  devoid 
of  every  principle  of  true  patriotism  and  honor.  In 
the  present  state  of  the  human  race,  all  these  dangers 
and  evils  unavoidably  attend  the  exercise  of  political 
rights.  Were  all  mankind  virtuous,  then  the  exer- 
cise of  these  rights  would  not  contaminate  the  purest 
mind,  but  until  such  is  the  case,  political  contentions 
will  always  engender  the  fiercest  and  most  dangerous 
passions  of  human  nature. 

If  man,  with  his  sterner  nature,  and  stronger 
powers  of  reason  and  judgment,  has  had  his  ration- 
ality shipwrecked  in  every  age  of  his  existence,  by 
the  surging  waves  of  these  perverted  passions,  how 
can  it  be  expected  that  woman,  the  "weaker  vessel," 
can  be  sent  adrift  upon  them,  and  still  retain  the 
purity  and  integrity  of  her  nature  ?  Is  it  not  enough 
that  the  male  sex  should  be  submitted  to  the  frenzy 
and  corruption  of  political  strife?  God  has  created 
man,  male  and  female,  and  endowed  him  by  nature  for 
the  discharge  of  the  sterner  duties  of  life,  and  her  for 
those  which  are  more  delicate,  and  He  has  so  placed 
the  scheme  of  human  happiness  upon  this  foundation, 
that  neither  sex  can  be  removed  from  its  natural 
sphere  of  action,  without  involving  the  race  in  the 
most  ruinous  consequences.  Therefore,  as  the  ex- 
ercise of  political  rights  would  most  clearly  remove 
woman  from  her  natural  sphere  of  action,  let  all  who 
love  woman  in  the  exalted  purity  and  integrity  of 
her  nature,  earnestly  protest,  in  the  name  of  heaven, 
against  this  desecration  of  her  character. 
3 


26  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

Let  it  not  be  said  that  woman  may  be  thus  re- 
moved from  her  proper  sphere  of  action,  and  yet 
preserve  the  purity  and  integrity  of  her  nature. 
Have  not  those  women  who  have  been  elevated  to 
high  political  power  generally  been  devoid  of  all 
those  sympathies  and  feelings  which  should  charac- 
terize the  true  woman  ?  Have  not  women  crowded 
round  the  guillotine  to  gloat  on  the  blood  of  innocent 
victims  ?  Alison,  speaking  of  the  thirst  for  blood, 
which  prevailed  in  France  after  the  restoration  of 
Louis  XVIII,  says,  "  The  rank,  talent,  and  consid- 
eration, even  the  sex  of  many  who  were  loudest 
in  the  outcry,  added  to  the  difficulty  of  restraining 
it,  for  experience  then  again  illustrated  the  truth 
proved  by  so  many  passages  in  history,  that  when 
the  passions  are  violently  excited,  it  is  in  the 
softer  sex  that  they  appear  with  the  most  violence." 
"  Women,"  says  Lamartine,  "  of  the  highest  rank 
were  implacable  in  their  demand  for  blood.  It  would 
seem  that  generosity  is  the  companion  of  force,  and 
that  the  weaker  the  sex  is,  the  more  is  it  pitiless. 
History  is  bound  to  say  so  in  order  to  stigmatize  it. 
Neither  high  birth,  nor  great  fortunes,  nor  literary 
education  preserved,  in  that  crisis,  more  than  it  had 
done  in  many  others,  ladies  of  the  aristocracy  of 
Paris,  and  of  the  court,  for  the  thirst  for  vengeance, 
and  the  sanguinary  joys,  which  had  actuated  women 
of  the  most  abject  condition,  under  the  Reign  of 
Terror,  and  at  the  gates  of  the  Revolutionary  tri- 
bunal." Says  Virgil, 

"  Gnarus  furens  quid  femina  possit." 

Again,  Alison,  speaking  of  the  French  Chamber  of 
Representatives,  says :  "  One  universal  feeling  of 
indignation  pervaded  this  body,  and,  in  the  vehement 
passions  with  which  it  was  animated,  the  women  of 


WOMAN  S   RIGHTS.  27 

the  highest  rank  connected  with  the  members,  stood 
preeminent  and  strongly  excited  all  the  men  with 
whom  they  were  connected,  or  whom  they  could  in- 
fluence. The  human  heart  is  the  same  at  all  times, 
and  in  all  grades  of  society,  and  the  same  principle 
which  causes  two-thirds  of  the  crowd  at  every  public 
execution  to  be  composed  of  the  humbler  part  of  the 
softer  sex,  now  rendered  many  of  the  highest,  fore- 
most in  the  demands  for  the  scaffolds  which  were  to 
cover  France  with  mourning."  So  says  history. 

Let  it  not  then  be  said  that  the  gentle  and  exalted 
nature  of  woman  would  assuage  the  fierceness  and 
purify  political  contention,  but  on  the  contrary,  polit- 
ical contention  would  corrupt  the  purity  of  her  nature 
and  degrade  her  character  to  its  own  level.  For  as 
the  exercise  of  political  rights  in  the  present  condi- 
tion of  mankind  is,  unavoidably,  more  or  less  asso- 
ciated with  impure  motives,  and  frequently  arouses 
into  action  the  fiercest  passions  of  our  nature,  and, 
as  woman  is  more  controlled  by  her  passions  and 
less  by  her  reason  and  judgment,  than  man ;  it  is 
obvious  that  this  sphere  of  action  would  deprive 
her  of  all  those  gentle  charms  and  lovely  pas- 
sions which  exalt  her  nature,  and  engender  those 
fierce  and  perverted  passions  which  degrade  it.  For 
the  same  reason  she  would  more  easily  become  the 
victim  of  political  baseness  and  dishonesty. 

Thus  woman  would  become  the  swaggering,  blus- 
tering fireside  soldier,  more  dangerous  with  the 
broomstick  than  the  bayonet,  and  politics  would 
no  longer  confine  its  commotions  and  brawlings  to 
the  street  and  bar-room,  but  would  pollute  by  its 
unholy  wrangling  and  falsehood  the  holy  influence 
which  should  pervade  the  family  circle.  It  is  a 
conceded  point  that  talking  is  a  distinctive  charac- 
teristic of  woman,  and  for  this  reason  she  would 


28  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

make  the  noisiest  politician  that  ever  cursed  any 
country,  and,  hence,  there  would  arise  from  the  polit- 
ical squabble,  such  a  wrangling  and  jabber  as  has 
not  been  heard  since  the  confusion  of  languages, 
upon  the  Tower  of  Babel.  These  advocates  of  wo- 
man's rights  are  engaged  in  the  construction  of  a 
political  Tower  of  Babel,  which  is  just  as  practica- 
ble as  the  famous  Tower  upon  the  plains  of  Shinar, 
and  consequently  will  meet  with  precisely  the  same 
success. 

We  may  again  recapitulate  thus — that  woman  is 
more  controlled  by  passion  and  less  by  intellect  than 
man — that  she  can  only  retain  the  purity  and  integ- 
rity of  her  nature  by  enlisting  her  most  gentle  and 
lovely  passions — that  in  the  present  condition  of 
man,  dishonest  artifices,  corrupting  influences,  and 
fierce  and  angry  strife  and  contention  are  unavoid- 
able in  the  exercise  of  political  rights,  and,  therefore, 
the  exercise  of  political  rights  is  uncongenial  to  the 
nature  of  woman,  and  would  remove  her  from  her 
natural  sphere  of  action,  and,  consequently,  inevitably 
degrade  her  character. 

If  a  nation's  prosperity  and  happiness  are  deter- 
mined by  the  condition  of  woman,  what  a  gloomy 
prospect  for  the  cause  of  humanity  would  be  pre- 
sented by  submitting  her  nature  to  all  the  perverting 
and  uncongenial  influences  which  are  the  necessary 
concomitants  to  the  exercise  of  political  privilege. 
The  protection  of  woman's  rights  is  the  first  and 
grandest  object  of  civilization,  and  no  civilization 
can  promote  the  true  welfare  of  humanity  unless  it 
elevates  woman  to  the  highest  position  in  society, 
and  carefully  sustains  her  in  that  sphere  of  action 
which  only  enlists  the  ennobling  and  redeeming 
charms  of  her  nature.  What  would  man  be  if  his 
native  fierceness  and  sternness  were  unchecked  by 


WOMAN  S   RIGHTS.  29 

the  softening  and  reclaiming  influence  of  woman's 
higher  nature.  The  answer  is  contained  in  the  his- 
toric records  of  barbarism.  Woman,  acting  in  her 
proper  sphere,  and  with  all  the  ennobling  emotions 
of  her  nature  exercising  their  reclaiming  power,  is 
the  genius  which  ever  presides  over  the  advancing 
destinies  of  mankind,  and  which  incites  to  the  noblest 
and  loveliest  deeds  of  humanity,  and  she  always 
adorns  with  the  purest  and  loveliest  beauties  of  her 
nature,  the  path  which  leads  to  happiness  and  to 
heaven. 

The  Author  of  nature  has  provided  no  other 
earthly  agent  to  perform  this  high  duty,  and  when- 
ever woman  fails  to  perform  the  work  assigned  her 
by  her  Creator,  true  civilization  is  unattainable.  The 
reclaiming  influence  of  woman  is  the  centripetal  force 
of  human-  nature  which  binds  mankind  together  by 
the  ties  of  love  and  friendship,  and  it  is  the  only 
influence  which  can  counteract  the  centrifugal  force 
of  perverted  human  nature,  and  which  would  other- 
wise give  man  a  tendency  to  fly  off  into  a  state  of 
ferocious  barbarism.  The  earth  could  as  well  per- 
form its  revolutions,  after  gravitation  had  ceased  to 
be  a  natural  law,  as  man  could  be  truly  happy  after 
woman  has  ceased  to  fulfill  the  essential  agency  in 
the  great  scheme  of  human  nature  which  God  has 
required  her  to  perform.  The  earth  is  not  truer  to 
the  laws  of  nature  than  is  man. 

As  the  true  progress  and  happiness  of  the  human 
race  depends  so  entirely  upon  woman  acting  in  the 
sphere  which  nature  has  assigned  her,  what  can  be 
of  more  vital  importance  to  mankind  generally,  and 
woman  particularly,  than  that  every  avenue  which 
can  admit  a  corrupting  influence  should  be  safely 
guarded,  and  that  she  should  be  scrupulously  pro- 
tected against  every  practice  which  is  uncongenial 


30  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

to  her  nature  or  can  degrade  her  character,  and  that 
all  the  purest  and  noblest  emotions  of  her  soul 
should  be  enlisted  in  the  discharge  of  her  duty, 
while  every  patriot  and  philanthropist  should  resist 
with  unyielding  determination  every  innovation  which 
can  even  remotely  place  her  unsullied  character  and 
true  position  in  society  in  jeopardy. 


If  woman  is  not  the  messenger  of  gentleness  and 
affection  upon  earth,  she  is  without  a  mission  here ; 
a  designless,  helpless,  impotent  being,  most  vitally 
affected  by  all  human  affairs,  but  over  which  she  can 
have  no  control.  Then  is  religion  a  farce,  the  Au- 
thor of  nature  a  capricious  and  unreasonable  being, 
and  all  his  glorious  works  without  beneficent  design. 
But  let  every  human  being  be  thankful  that  the 
Creator  has  endowed  woman  with  those  natural  at- 
tributes, which,  when  properly  exerted,  exercise  a 
purifying  and  reclaiming  influence  upon  human  af- 
fairs, and  continually  urge  man  to  achieve  a  higher 
and  a  nobler  destiny.  Let  all  who  would  rejoice  in 
human  welfare  feel  sincerely  grateful  for  all  these 
blessings,  and  earnestly  oppose  man  when  he  would 
defeat  his  own  happiness  by  perverting  the  benefi- 
cent designs  of  his  Creator. 

But  it  is  urged  in  the  resolutions,  as  a  ground 
of  complaint,  that  woman  is  "taxed  but  not  repre- 
sented." It  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  political 
justice  that  the  necessary  expense  of  sustaining  the 
government  should  be  borne  by  all  the  property- 
holders  in  proportion  to  the  taxable  property  held 
by  each.  Now,  it  is  perfectly  obvious  that  where 
this  principle  of  taxation  is  complied  with,  no  dis- 
tinct class  of  the  community  can  be  wronged  or 
unjustly  oppressed.  The  oppression  of  taxation 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  31 

without  representation  results  where  a  separate  class 
or  people  is  taxed  as  a  distinct  body,  and  yet  has 
no  voice  in  the  power  which  taxes  them.  Thus  the 
British  government  claimed  the  right  to  tax  the 
American  colonies  at  pleasure,  while  the  colonies 
had  no  voice  whatever  in  the  Parliament  which  taxed 
them,  and  it  is  evident  to  every  person  that  had  the 
colonies  yielded  to  this  unjust  claim  they  would  have 
been  much  wronged  and  greatly  oppressed.  In  this 
instance  the  British  government  formed  tax  laws 
which  did  not  extend  to  all  the  property  in  the 
British  kingdoms,  but  applied  only  to  the  property 
in  the  American  colonies,  and  hence  the  wrong;  but 
surely  no  person  will  assert  that  while  the  tax  law 
extends  equally  to  all  the  property  which  is  placed 
under  the  protection  of  government,  and  taxes  spe- 
cially no  distinct  class  of  persons,  that  any  person  or 
class  of  persons  can  possibly  be  wronged  or  op- 
pressed. 

Now,  who  ever  heard  of  a  tax  law  that  taxed  the 
property  of  women  as  such,  and  did  not  at  the  same 
time  equally  tax  the  property  of  men  ?  Who  ever 
heard  of  a  legislature  that  legislated  against  woman 
as  a  distinct  class,  and  subjected  her  to  burdens 
for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  the  government  from 
which  the  other  sex  was  relieved.  !No  such  law  has 
ever  been  enacted  where  woman  has  enjoyed  the  pro- 
tection of  civilized  man,  but  it  will  not  be  safe  to 
say  what  may  be  enacted  when  she  renounces  that 
protection.  But  as  long  as  any  tax  law  applies 
equally  to  the  property  of  those  who  enact  it,  and  to 
the  property  of  those  who  have  no  voice  in  its  en- 
actment, self-interest  alone  will  prevent  it  from  being 
made  unnecessarily  burdensome.  And  so  long  as  it 
does  apply  equally  to  all  the  property,  to  whomso- 
ever belonging,  which  is  placed  under  the  protection 


32  MODERN  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

of  government,  one  class  can  not  be  oppressed  more 
than  an  other,  and  as  no  law  makes  unjust  discrimi- 
nation between  the  property  of  men  and  women  as 
such,  it  follows  conclusively  that  no  wrong  or  oppres- 
sion can  result  to  woman  from  this  mode  of  taxation, 
which  does  not  also  result  to  man.  And,  therefore, 
she  suffers  no  injustice  in  this  respect. 

But  let  us  scrutinize  a  little  more  closely  the  prin- 
ciples involved  in  this  demand.  It  assumes  that 
taxation  should  regulate  representation,  that  is,  that 
all  who  pay  taxes  should  be  represented  in  the  law- 
making  power.  Now,  if  taxation  is  the  true  basis 
upon  which  representation  should  be  placed,  it  fol- 
lows that  the  amount  of  representation  should  be 
regulated  by  the  amount  of  taxation,  and,  therefore, 
in  choosing  representatives  in  the  law-making  power, 
the  number  of  votes  which  each  citizen  should  be 
entitled  to  cast,  should  be  determined  by  the  amount 
of  his  property,  that  is,  that  the  citizens  who  have 
wealth  should  have  a  number  of  votes,  but  the 
humbler  classes,  whose  honest  efforts  produce  the 
wealth,  should  not  be  allowed  to  vote  at  all.  We 
have  instances  in  Europe,  of  governments  founded 
upon  this  basis.  A  few  individuals  soon  monopolize 
the  wealth  and  the  law-making  power,  and  the  mass 
of  the  people  are  downtrodden  and  oppressed,  with- 
out property  and  without  rights. 

Let  those  who  advocate  this  movement,  look  across 
the  Atlantic,  and  see  the  perfect  consummation  of 
their  favorite  reform.  But  if  political  justice  requires 
that  woman  must  be  represented,  because  she  is  taxed, 
it  also  requires  that  children  to  whom  belong  taxable 
property  must  be  represented,  and  citizens  of  other 
countries  who  own  property  in  this,  must  be  repre- 
sented, and  negroes  and  every  other  tribe  of  the  ge- 
nus homo,  who  can  acquire  property,  must  be  repre- 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS*  33 

fiented,  and  thus  the  whole  thing  resolves  itself  into 
a  ridiculous  absurdity. 


But  as  another  ground  of  complaint  it  is  urged 
that  woman  is  "  authorized  to  earn  property,  but  not 
free  to  control  it."  In  forming  laws  for  the  regula- 
tion of  large  communities,  it  becomes  necessary  to 
establish  general  principles,  which  will  be  equally 
applicable  to  all  similar  cases,  and  it  is  also  essential 
to  an  effective  political  organization,  that  individuals 
should  relinquish  many  minor  rights,  in  order  that 
the  more  important  rights  may  be  securely  protected. 
Thus  it  is  impossible  to  establish  civil  liberty,  unless 
each  member  of  the  community  surrenders  such  a 
part  of  his  natural  liberty,  as  is  necessary  to  secure 
the  protection  of  civil  government,  but  the  advan- 
tages thus  derived  are  admitted  by  all,  to  be  infi- 
nitely greater  than  those  which  man  could  enjoy  by 
remaining  in  a  state  of  natural  independence. 

But  in  order  to  secure  the  inestimable  blessings  of 
civil  government,  by  which  woman  is  much  the  great- 
est gainer,  it  devolved  upon  man  to  surrender  a  larger 
portion  of  natural  rights  than  woman,  for,  in  a  state 
of  uncultivated  nature,  might  determines  right;  and, 
therefore,  she  had  very  few  natural  rights  to  sur- 
render. Now  tyranny  or  oppression  is  defined  to  be 
"  a  restraint  of  natural  liberty  not  necessary  or  expe- 
dient for  the  public."  But  woman  complains  that  she 
is  oppressed  by  civil  government.  How  ?  Why,  the 
resolution  says  that  she  is  "  authorized  to  earn  pro- 
perty but  not  free  to  control  it."  But  this  can  not 
be  one  of  her  natural  rights  which  is  thus  unneces- 
sarily restrained,  for  in  a  state  of  nature,  as  already 
said,  might  determines  right,  and  there  she  certainly 
could  not  be  very  free  to  control  her  property. 


34  MODERN    FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

But  let  us  see  what  real  wrong  is  done  her  in  re- 
gard to  the  control  of  property.  Every  woman,  so 
long  as  she  remains  unmarried,  is  just  as  free  to  con- 
trol her  property  as  any  man  ;  it  is,  therefore,  against 
the  marital  rights  that  this  complaint  is  directed. 
These  rights  in  all  the  states  except  one,  are  founded 
upon  the  English  Common-law.  It  is  true  that  there 
have  been  many  statutary  provisions  made  in  the 
different  states,  but  they  all  look  to  the  common  law 
as  the  source  of  marital  rights.  This  law  regards 
husband  and  wife  as  one  person,  and  by  its  provisions, 
the  act  of  marriage,  when  there  is  no  arrangement 
between  the  parties  to  prevent  it,  transfers  the  pro- 
perty of  the  wife  to  the  husband,  upon  his  complying 
with  certain  conditions  which  is  not  necessary  here  to 
explain.  Upon  the  part  of  the  husband,  it  requires 
that  he  shall  provide  for  the  wife  all  the  necessaries 
and  comforts  of  life  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
his  property.  The  question  is,  whether  woman  is 
wronged  or  oppressed  by  this  arrangement. 

The  common  law  is  the  experience  and  wisdom  of 
eight  hundred  years  reduced  to  practice ;  and  hence 
the  policy  which  regards  husband  and  wife  as  one 
person,  is  a  maxim  of  justice,  derived  from  long  and 
extensive  experience  in  human  affairs,  and  founded  in 
the  teachings  of  ages.  Let  us  look  at  its  practical, 
wisdom.  Amid  the  strife  and  contentions  which  at- 
tend the  transactions  of  civilized  society,  in  which 
almost  every  person  is  engaged  in  the  exclusive  pur- 
suit of  wealth,  and  so  regardless  of  the  means  by 
which  it  is  acquired ;  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
to  society,  that  all  the  ways  and  means  which  can 
place  the  practice  of  fraud  and  dishonesty  beyond 
the  reach  of  legal  justice,  should  be  strictly  prevented. 
Now  if  the  husband  and  wife  be  allowed  to  hold 
separate  property  in  the  manner  demanded  in  these 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  35 

resolutions,  and  the  property  of  the  one  be  not  sub- 
ject to  the  just  demands  against  the  other,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  there  would  be  thus  formed  a  hiding-place 
for  fraud  and  dishonesty,  in  which  they  could  so 
effectually  conceal  themselves,  that  they  would  be 
beyond  the  reach  of  judicial  scrutiny.  This  is  exem- 
plified in  those  states  in  which  innovation  has  been 
made  in  the  common  law  in  this  particular,  for  there 
the  most  stupendous  frauds  have  been  practiced,  and 
their  perpetrators  have  successfully  defied  the  efforts 
of  legal  justice.  It  will  be  presently  shown  that 
woman  is  now  permitted  to  hold  and  control  separate 
property  for  all  honest  purposes,  by  complying  with 
the  easy  conditions  of  the  law,  and  certainly  it  will 
not  be  claimed  as  one  of  woman's  rights,  that  she 
shall  be  allowed  to  practice  fraud  with  impunity. 

If  the  wife  is  to  be  invested  with  the  free  control 
of  property,  equally  with  the  husband,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  greatest  opportunity  will  be  offered  for  the 
practice  of  fraud,  for  they  would  really  be  associated 
in  a  business  partnership ;  but  relieved  from  its  re- 
sponsibilities, for  the  contract  of  the  one  would  not 
bind  the  other,  and  thus  there  would  be  opened  a 
very  tempting  way  to  avoid  the  payment  of  honest 
debts.  It  is  true  that  all  fraudulent  transfers  would 
-  be  vitiated  by  the  fraud,  but  how  is  the  fraud  to  be 
detected  ?  By  swearing  husband  and  wife  ?  The  re- 
medy is  worse  than  the  disease.  The  common  law 
has  always,  for  the  soundest  reasons,  regarded  hus- 
band and  wife  as  incompetent  evidence  in  any  case 
in  which  either  was  interested.  The  matrimonial 
attachment  is  much  stronger  than  the  obligations  of 
an  oath,  and,  consequently,  this  would  lead  to  evils 
much  more  to  be  dreaded  than  fraud.  Nature,  reli- 
gion, and  law  forbid  it,  and  no  human  power  can  an- 
nul their  united  decree. 


36  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

It  is  not  pretended  that  woman  has  any  peculiar 
inclination  to  the  practice  of  fraud  or  dishonesty,  but 
all  experience,  from  the  time  that  Eve  ate  of  the  for- 
bidden fruit  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  until  the  present 
time,  proves  that  it  is  especially  dangerous  to  submit 
her  to  temptation.  When  acting  in  her  proper 
sphere  she  rises  above  it ;  but  when  removed  from 
that  sphere,  she  is  capable  of  the  basest  dishonesty 
and  degradation. 

But  there  is  another  result  which  must  be  consid- 
ered here.  The  free  control  of  property  would  as 
clearly  remove  her  from  the  sphere  in  which  nature 
has  qualified  her  to  act,  as  would  the  exercise  of 
political  rights,  and  for  nearly  the  same  reasons. 
If  the  fierce  struggles  and  contentions  which  attend 
the  exercise  of  political  rights  are  uncongenial  to  her 
nature,  are  those  any  less  so,  which  unavoidably  at- 
tend the  free  control  of  property,  in  this  money- 
seeking  age,  when  the  accumulation  of  wealth  is  the 
grand  object  of  life,  and  its  crushing  influence  has 
corrupted  the  most  sterling  principles  of  virtue  and 
integrity,  and  even  prostituted  religion  itself?  Would 
you  plunge  her  into  the  desperate  whirl  of  commercial 
struggle,  at  a  time  when  even  the  sterner  nature  of 
man  is  yielding  to  its  fierceness  and  uncharitableness  ? 
Ah,  her  nature  could  not  retain  its  gentleness  and 
loveliness  amid  such  rugged  surges.  She  is  physi- 
cally and  intellectually  incapable  of  successfully  dis- 
charging these  sterner  duties.  WThen  she  occupies 
her  proper  position  in  society,  the  gentleness  and 
purity  of  her  nature  can  temper  the  fierceness  and 
sternness  of  man,  and  direct  his  course  in  life  into 
the  path  of  virtue ;  but,  notwithstanding  all  this,  she 
would  make  but  an  indifferent  notion-peddler  or 
liorse-jockey.  Why,  if,  she  is  not  fortunate  enough 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  37 

to  be  husbanded  herself,  she   has  to  employ  a  man 
to  husband  her  property. 

It  is  true  that  the  property  which  should  be  relig- 
iously reserved  for  the  sustenance  of  the  wife  and 
children,  is  frequently  squandered  by  a  dissipated 
and  vagrant  husband.  But,  because  there  are  a  few 
individual  instances  of  this  kind,  does  it  prove  the 
falseness  of  the  experience  of  eight  centuries,  and 
call  for  a  general  warfare  with  the  principles  of  na- 
ture? Does  woman  expect  to  be  relieved  from  all 
liability  of  hardships  while  she  remains  a  human  be- 
ing? But  are  not  these  wrongs  to  be  righted  by  a 
moral  reformation,  rather  than  by  a  political  refor- 
mation, which  invests  woman  with  uncongenial 
rights  ?  And  does  man  suffer  no  hardships  at  the 
hands  of  woman,  which  call  for  reform  ?  Does  not 
the  husband  frequently  devote  his  life  to  drudgery 
and  servitude  in  order  to  sustain  the  wife  in  fashion- 
able folly  and  vicious  idleness  ?  Who  is  the  oppres- 
sor then?  There  is  more  truth  than  poetry  in  the 
saying:  "when  a  man  resolves  to  become  rich,  let 
him  first  ask  his  wife."  But  the  simple  truth  is,  that 
in  order  to  be  happy,  both  husband  and  wife  must 
faithfully  discharge  their  respective  duties.  Woman 
must  not  suppose  that  she  can  relieve  herself  from 
the  unrighteous  wrongs  and  oppressions  which  are 
inflicted  upon  her  by  the  "sovereign  lord,"  by  trans- 
forming herself  into  a  man,  or  that  she  can  success- 
fully discharge  masculine  duties,  until  she  does 
this.  "  What  God  has  joined  together  let  not  man  put 
asunder,"  neither  by  conduct  upon  his  own  part,  nor 
by  investing  woman  with  uncongenial  rights,  least 
while  in  the  pursuit  of  chimeras  and  Utopian  theo- 
ries, the  substantial  happiness,  which  is  the  reward 
of  true  domestic  virtue,  be  lost  for  ever. 


38  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

Now  if  a  community  of  interests  between  husband 
and  wife  is  essential  to  domestic  happiness,  and  wo- 
man is  the  "  weaker  vessel,"  as  God  has  declared  her 
to  be  by  his  word  and  his  works ;  the  control  of  the 
common  property  is  a  duty  devolved  upon  man  by 
unavoidable  necessity,  and,  therefore,  if  there  is  any 
wrong  or  oppression  about  it,  it  is  not  inflicted  upon 
her  by  man,  but  by  her  Creator.  But  let  us  make 
another  sincere  effort  to  discover  the  nature  of  these 
wrongs  and  oppressions,  which,  like  ghosts  and  rap- 
ping spirits,  are  for  ever  eluding  our  grasp.  Let  us 
see  if  woman  is  not  allowed  the  free  control  of  prop- 
erty in  all  cases  in  which  justice  and  the  true  inter- 
est of  humanity  demand  it. 

It  is  a  fact  remarked  by  a  distinguished  author, 
that  wherever  the  common  law  has  prevailed,  there 
have  the  character  and  rights  of  woman  been  most 
securely  protected ;  there  has  she  been  elevated  to 
the  highest  social  position,  and  her  influence  most 
widely  and  beneficially  exerted.  But  there  is  an 
institution  of  which  woman  is  the  especial  favorite ; 
which  always  accompanies  the  common  law.  We  re- 
fer to  the  Court  of  Equity.  It  is  the  consort  of  the 
common  law,  performing  the  same  part  in  jurispru- 
dence, which  the  true  wife  performs  in  the  scheme  of 
human  happiness.  It  softens  the  sternness  of  law, 
and  administers  relief  where  justice  and  humanity 
would  be  outraged.  This  court  permits  a  settlement 
to  be  made  upon  the  wife,  which  it  will  protect 
against  all  demands,  except  such  as  result  from  her 
proper  acts.  Not  only  is  she  free  to  control  this 
property,  but  the  contracts  of  the  husband  can  not 
bind  it,  nor  can  he  obtain  possession  of  it  except  by 
her  free  consent,  and  not  only  this,  but  the  court  is 
her  guardian,  and  frequently  protects  her  against 
the  effects  of  her  own  rash  acts.  All  it  requires  is, 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  39 

that  the  settlement  shall  be  supported  by  a  sufficient 
consideration,  and  so  published  to  the  world,  that  it 
shall  not  deceive  persons  who  are  strangers  to  the 
agreement,  or  open  the  door  to  fraud. 

What  more  does  justice  require  ?  What  more  does 
woman  want?  If  she  is  unwilling  to  trust  man  with 
her  property,  when  she  intrusts  him  with  her  hand 
and  heart,  why  does  not  she  demand  that  a  settle- 
ment shall  be  made  in  her  favor,  to  secure  her 
against  all  emergencies,  and  not  be  resolving  about 
her  wrongs,  while  her  rights  already  have  the  only 
protection  which  they  can  have  consistent  with  jus- 
tice, religion,  or  nature  ?  The  principles  which  secure 
to  her  the  blessings  and  happiness  which  she  now 
enjoys,  were  only  realized  by  ages  of  philanthropic 
«fibrt.  The  most  learned  and  devoted  men  have 
earnestly  labored  to  place  them  upon  the  foundation 
of  eternal  justice.  They  are  shaped  in  the  mold  of 
human  nature.  They  were  born  in  the  darkest  ages 
of  woman's  degradation  and  oppression.  As  they 
have  been  gradually  developed,  woman  has  been 
gradually  elevated  in  the  scale  of  being,  until,  in  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  edifice  of  legal 
justice  stands  forth  the  proudest  triumph  of  human 
reason,  while  woman,  relieved  from  her  wrongs  and 
oppressions,  is  securely  placed  upon  its  highest 
architrave. 

Thus  situated,  how  could  she  be  so  regardless  of 
her  own  true  interests  as  to  desire  to  make  a  move- 
ment, untried  in  human  experience,  and  which  must 
be  attended  with  the  most  dangerous  consequences  ? 
She  can  not  attain  a  higher  social  position ;  she  may 
reach  one  much  lower.  Every  change  in  the  social 
and  political  polity  which  sustains  her  in  her  present 
position  is  fraught  with  startling  dangers  to  her. 
But  again,  she  is  tempted  with  the  forbidden  fruit. 


40  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

But  instead  of  the  serpent  tempting  her  with  the 
fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  and 
saying  to  her,  "  Ye  shall  not  surely  die ;  for  God 
doth  know  that  in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof  then  your 
eyes  shall  be  open,  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing 
good  and  evil."  She  is  now  tempted  with  the  exer- 
cise of  uncongenial  rights,  and  the  serpent  says, 
"  Ye  shall  not  surely  fall  from  your  present  position 
In  society;  for  man  doth  know  that  in  the  day  ye 
exercise  these  rights,  then  your  eyes  shall  be  open, 
and  ye  shall  be  as  men,  exercising  all  the  rights  and 
duties  of  men."  Now  the  error  into  which  the  ser- 
pent would  lead  woman,  is  the  same  in  each  of  these 
temptations,  for  she  can  no  more  be  as  men  than  she 
can  be  as  gods. 

But  the  resolutions  demand  equal  rights  for  wo- 
man in  every  respect,  socially,  morally,  and  politi- 
cally, for  they  say  "  that  the  monopoly  of  the  elective 
franchise,  and  thereby  all  the  powers  of  legislative 
government  by  man,  solely  on  the  ground  of  sex,  is 
a  usurpation,  condemned  alike  by  reason  and  com- 
mon sense ;  subversive  of  all  the  principles  of  just- 
ice; oppressive  and  demoralizing  in  its  operations, 
and  insulting  to  the  dignity  of  human  nature," 
claiming  also  the  free  control  of  property,  and  the 
exercise  of  every  other  right  and  duty  which  man  is 
.called  upon  to  perform  in  all  his  public  and  private 
relations.  All  history  and  experience  prove  that  a 
class  or  caste  of  persons  intellectually  and  physically 
superior  to  those  with  whom  they  are  politically 
associated,  soon  obtains  the  complete  control  of  pub- 
lic and  private  authority,  and  the  less  capable  classes 
are  reduced  to  servitude  and  oppression.  That  wo- 
man is  intellectually  and  physically  inferior  to  man 
in  those  qualities  which  pertain  to  the  successful  ex- 
ercise of  political  rights,  has,  it  is  thought,  been 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  41 

incontrovertibly  established ;  and,  therefore,  all  that 
prevents  her  from  sharing  this  common  fate  of  man- 
kind, is  because  she  is  not  politically  associated  with 
man,  but  placed  under  his  protection. 

The  sexes  being  each  required  to  exercise  different 
rights,  and  to  discharge  different  duties  in  the  plan 
of  human  happiness,  are  endowed  with  different  nat- 
ural attributes,  with  a  different  order  of  passions, 
with  a  different  degree  and  class  of  emotions  and 
feelings ;  in  short,  their  entire  natures  are  totally  dif- 
ferent, and,  therefore,  every  human  undertaking, 
which  requires  of  the  one  the  performance  of  duties 
which  nature  requires  of  the  other,  or  confers  the 
same  rights  and  duties  upon  both,  must  be  just  as 
successful  as  human  efforts  always  are,  when  man 
attempts  to  subvert  the  laws  of  God.  How,  then, 
are  we  to  form  a  political  or  civil  equation  out  of 
man  and  woman?  What  would  a  man  be  worth  that 
was  equal  to  a  woman ;  or  what  kind  of  a  creature 
would  a  woman  be  that  was  equal  to  a  man?  The 
one  would  be  a  contemptible  nonentity,  and  the  other 
a  frightful  monstrosity.  Hence,  it  is  entirely  essen- 
tial that  each  sex  should  act  in  its  proper  sphere, 
and  in  its  own  distinct  line  of  duty,  in  order  to  main- 
tain the  nice  equipoise  in  which  the  God  of  nature 
has  balanced  the  scheme  of  human  happiness. 
Whenever  its  equilibrium  is  destroyed,  man  sinks 
in  the  scale  of  being. 

When  woman  awoke  amid  the  warblings  of  the 
birds  of  Paradise  at  the  dawning  of  the  first  Sabbath 
morning,  she  rejoiced  in  the  purity  of  her  character, 
and  in  the  enjoyment  of  perfect  happiness,  unem- 
bittered  by  the  sorrows  and  afflictions  of  transgres- 
sion. But  she  yielded  to  the  tempter.  Then  were 
all  the  sons  and  daughters  of  men  involved  in  the 
effects  of  sin,  and  the  celestial  scenes  of  Paradise 

4 


42  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

passed  away,  and  then  came  the  trials,  the  wrongs, 
the  oppressions  of  a  world  of  transgressors,  eating 
every  day  of  the  fruit  of  which  God  has  commanded 
them  that  they  shall  not  eat.  That  first  act  of  dis- 
obedience deprived  her  of  the  pleasures  of  a  Para- 
dise, and  subjected  her  to  the  miseries  of  degradation 
and  oppression.  It  involved  alike  man  and  woman 
in  the  effects  of  sin,  but  she,  being  the  "  weaker  ves- 
sel," sank  the  deepest  under  its  heavy  strokes. 

For  long  ages  she  drank  the  bitter  drops  of  deep 
humiliation  and  misery,  and  by  suffering  wrong  and 
oppression,  she  expiated  the  sin  of  her  first  trans- 
gression. But  the  dawning  light  of  returning  civil- 
ization, after  it  had  been  long  obscured  by  the  night 
of  the  dark  ages,  shed  a  bright  ray  upon  the  char- 
acter of  woman,  and  in  its  steady  progress  it  re- 
moved the  clouds  which  had  obscured  the  beauty  and 
loveliness  of  her  exalted  nature ;  and  she  arose 
again,  not  indeed  to  the  unclouded  enjoyments  of 
the  primitive  Paradise,  but  to  the  highest  position 
of  modern  civilized  society.  Again  she  is  tempted. 
While  she  is  enjoying  the  fairest  blessings  of  civil- 
ization, and  marching  in  the  front  ranks  of  human 
progress,  and  by  the  gentleness  and  loveliness  of  her 
nature,  impressing  upon  the  feature  of  nations  the 
principle  of  "Peace  on  earth,  and  good  will  to  man," 
will  she  again  yield  to  the  tempter?  May  God 
forbid. 

But  it  is  urged  that  woman  is  "  allowed  to  obtain 
education,  but  not  encouraged  to  use  it."  Now  what 
particular  grievance  is  here  complained  of  can  not 
be  definitely  ascertained,  for  what  additional  encour- 
agement should  be  extended  to  her  does  not  appear 
upon  the  record.  There  is  no  law  prohibiting  her 
from  "  using "  her  education  in  any  honest  manner 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  43 

that  she  pleases,  and  all  the  literary  pursuits  are  as 
freely  open  to  her  as  to  the  opposite  sex.  There 
is  no  law  prohibiting  her  from  successfully  engaging 
in  the  practice  of  any  of  the  professions,  except  the 
law  of  nature.  If  she  is  naturally  incapable  of 
competing  with  man  in  the  labors  of  the  literary 
world,  or  in  the  performance  of  masculine  duties,  let 
her  not  so  severely  take  man  to  task  for  what  is  not 
his  fault,  but  rather  Him  who  made  her  so. 

All  the  legislative  exactments  which  man  could 
possibly  make,  and  the  conferring  of  all  the  rights 
which  these  resolutions  demand,  could  not,  in  the 
slightest  degree,  alter  the  nature  which  God  has 
given  her,  or  qualify  her  for  the  discharge  of  duties 
for  which  she  is  naturally  incompetent.  She  may 
become  an  authoress  or  a  teacher,  subjected  only  to 
those  provisos  which  the  laws  of  nature  make.  In 
these  occupations  the  value  of  the  services  rendered, 
generally  establish  the  standard  of  remuneration. 
Again,  we  say  do  not  "  scold  "  man  so,  because  the 
Creator  did  not  make  woman-man.  It  is  not  man's 
fault  because  woman  is  woman.  What  encourage- 
ment then  is  demanded  which  she  does  not  now 
enjoy  ?  Does  she  ask  a  kind  literary  tariff  to  pro- 
tect her  efforts  against  the  competition  of  the  op- 
posite sex  ?  Until  this  mystery  is  explained,  we  shall 
dismiss  the  subject. 


The  complaint  that  she  is  "  permitted  to  prepare 
papers  for  scientific  bodies,  but  not  permitted  to 
read  them,"  likewise  merits  but  very  little  attention. 
Why  is  she  not  permitted  to  read  them?  What 
stern  mandate  of  her  merciless  oppressors  here 
interposes  to  deprive  her  of  her  just  rights  ?  Does 
statute  or  common  law?  Does  any  thing  else, 


44  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

for  which  man  alone  is  responsible,  and  which  he 
alone  has  the  power  to  remove?  There  is  nothing 
of  the  kind.  Why,  then,  this  resolving  that  man 
is  a  usurper?  If  there  is  any  thing  except  the 
laws  of  nature  which  prevents  her  from  reading 
such  papers,  if  she  regards  this  as  one  of  her  in- 
alienable rights,  it  is  custom.  But  who  establishes 
custom  in  such  matters  ?  Woman,  almost  entirely ; 
and  hence,  if  there  is  any  wrong  done  her  in  this 
respect,  she  herself  is  the  author  of  it.  In  proof 
of  this  we  need  only  note  the  fact,  that  no  woman 
of  respectable  abilities  has  ever  appeared  before  the 
public  as  an  orator  or  lecturer,  or  in  any  other  lit- 
erary capacity,  who  has  not  been  treated  with  the 
greatest  respect,  and  no  man  of  respectable  reputa- 
tion has  ever  accused  her  of  assuming  undue  rights 
and  privileges. 

It  is  true  that  woman  is  much  oppressed  by  con- 
ventionality ;  but  it  is  almost  entirely  through  her 
own  influence  that  this  despot  is  established  and 
maintained  upon  his  throne.  In  civilized  society,  if 
woman  is  not  invested  with  the  power  of  making 
laws  she  is  invested  with  the  almost  equally-import- 
ant power  of  shaping  those  customs  which  control 
human  conduct.  When  a  custom  receives  her  sanc- 
tion, man  scrupulously  conforms  to  it,  but  if  she 
vetoes  it,  it  requires  more  than  a  majority  of  two- 
thirds  to  give  it  the  authority  of  a  popular  cus- 
tom. Exercising  this  power,  she  is  her  own  op- 
pressor ;  and,  while  she  is  not  deprived  of  any  right 
or  privilege,  which  is  essential  to  her  welfare  and 
happiness  by  the  laws  of  her  country,  against  which 
all  this  bitter  complaint  is  made,  many,  very  many, 
of  those  rights  and  privileges,  which  are  most  essen- 
tial to  her  enjoyment  and  independence,  are  fettered 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  45 

by  customs  of  her  own  making,  and  which  she  alone 
can  remove.  Now,  simple  justice  and  consistency 
require,  that  before  she  raises  an  outcry  against  the 
tyranny  of  man,  that  she  remove  the  despotism  of 
herself;  that,  before  she  demands  the  repeal  of  laws, 
which  are  themselves  the  firm  supporters  which  sus- 
tain her  in  her  present  exalted  position,  that  she 
simply  abolish  those  arbitrary  and  whimsical  cus- 
toms, which  not  only  fetter  the  enjoyment  of  many 
of  her  essential  rights  and  privileges,  but  also  pre- 
vent her  from  discharging  many  of  the  most  im- 
portant duties,  which  the  designs  of  God  and  the 
interests  of  humanity  require  at  her  hands. 

When  woman,  as  a  sex,  shall  have  the  moral  cour- 
age to  unite  in  a  determined  effort  against  the  unrea- 
sonable and  unnecessary  customs,  which  now  hamper 
the  exercise  of  many  rights,  and  prevent  the  dis- 
charge of  many  duties,  which  her  own  welfare  and 
independence  demand,  then  will  all  her  real  oppres- 
sions be  removed,  and  she  will  be  "  encouraged  to 
use  "  her  education,  permitted  u  to  read  her  papers 
before  scientific  bodies,"  and  she  will  stand  forth  in 
the  pure  and  exalted  nature  with  which  her  Creator 
has  endowed  her,  the  happy  realization  of  the  grand 
ideal  of  her  existence,  THE  GLORIOUS  AND  HARMONI- 
OUS BLENDING  OF  USEFULNESS  AND  LOVELINESS. 


But  the  last  objection  which  we  shall  notice  to  this 
so-called  reform,  is,  that  it  is  contrary  to  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Christian  religion.  These  resolutions  de- 
mand for  woman  the  exercise  of  equal  rights  and 
privileges  with  man  in  all  the  relations  of  life.  If 
she  assume  equal  rights  and  privileges,  she  is  invested 
with  equal  power  and  authority  in  the  formation  and 
establishment  of  all  the  regulations  and  institutions 


46  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

which  are  to  govern  man  in  every  sphere  of  life,  and, 
therefore,  instead  of  "wives  learning  in  silence  and 
with  all  subjection,"  and  "submitting  to  their  own 
husbands,"  as  woman's  will  is  quite  indomitable,  and 
her  colloquial  powers  very  considerable,  if  man  de- 
sired to  have  any  peace  in  the  family,  it  would  be 
quite  necessary  to  reverse  the  Christian  order,  and 
husbands  learn  in  silence  and  with  all  subjection,  and 
submit  to  their  own  wives.  Let  us  see  if  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Bible  demand  equal,  civil  and  political 
rights  for  man  and  woman.  We  shall  quote  from 
the  New  Testament,  although  the  same  doctrines  are 
taught  in  the  Old  Testament. 

"But  I  would  have  you  know,  that  the  head  of 
every  man  is  Christ ;  and  the  head  of  every  woman 
is  the  man  ;  and  the  head  of  Christ  is  God.  For  the 
man  is  not  of  the  woman,  but  the  woman  of  the  man. 
Neither  Avas  man  created  for  the  woman,  but  the 
woman  for  the  man."  1  Cor.  xi :  3—8. 

"  Wives  submit  yourselves  unto  your  own  husbands, 
as  with  the  Lord.  For  the  husband  is  the  head  of 
the  wife,  even  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  the  Church : 
and  he  is  the  savior  of  the  body.  Therefore,  as  the 
church  is  subject  unto  Christ ;  so  let  the  wives  be 
to  their  own  husbands  in  every  thing."  Eph.  v :  22, 
23,  24. 

"  Wives  submit  yourselves  unto  your  own  husbands, 
as  it  is  fit  in  the  Lord."  Col.  iii :  18. 

"  Let  the  woman  learn  in  silence  and  with  all  sub- 
jection. But  I  suffer  not  a  woman  to  teach,  nor  to 
usurp  authority  over  the  man,  but  to  be  in  silence. 
For  Adam  was  first  formed,  then  Eve.  And  Adam 
was  not  deceived,  but  the  woman  being  deceived  was 
in  the  transgression."  1  Tim.  ii :  11-14. 

"  Likewise  ye  wives,  be  in  subjection  to  your  own 


WOMAN'S  EIGHTS.  47 

husbands ;  that  if  any  obey  not  the  word,  they  also 
may,  without  the  word,  be  won  by  the  conversation 
of  the  wives."  1  Peter,  iii :  1. 

So  we  might  add  passage  to  passage  to  establish 
the  same  principle ;  but  it  is  certainly  unnecessary, 
yet  it  is  one  of  the  strange  delusions  of  the  age,  that 
those  persons  who  are  the  most  strenuous  advocates 
of  this  new  invention,  profess  to  be  sincere  and 
consistent  ministers  of  this  same  gospel.  Now  it  is 
necessarily  certain,  that  either  the  principles  of  the 
Christian  religion,  or  those  of  the  Woman's  Rights 
Movement,  are  false,  for  as  they  teach  diametrically 
opposite  principles,  they  can  not  both  be  true ;  but 
which  is  true  and  which  false,  we  shall  leave  to  the 
Rev.  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  who  advocate  the  "  Move- 
ment," to  decide  for  themselves. 

But  while  these  Rev.  folks  are  deciding  this  im- 
portant point,  let  every  sincere  Christian  rejoice  that 
the  sacred  precepts  in  which  he  founds  his  faith,  and 
also  the  operations  of  nature  by  which  we  are  sur- 
rounded, teach  us  the  same  lesson  in  regard  to  this 
important  matter,  and  that  the  word  and  work  of 
God  are  in  harmony.  Any  discrepancy  here  would 
be  fatal  to  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion  ;  for 
there  is  a  possibility  that  Scriptures,  as  we  read  them, 
may  not  be  the  true  word  of  God ;  but  it  is  utterly 
impossible  that  nature,  as  it  really  exists,  can  not 
be  the  work  of  God.  Hence  if  the  Scriptures  taught 
us  that  woman  should  be  invested  with  equal  rights 
and  privileges  with  man,  while  her  nature  disqualifies 
her  for  the  proper  exercise  of  such  rights  and  privi- 
leges, the  authority  of  nature  must  prevail  against 
the  authority  of  Scripture,  as  being  the  most  reliable 
expression  of  the  will  of  God. 

Every  Christian  should  read  the  will  of  God  in  the 
book  of  his  works  as  well  as  the  book  of  his  word. 


48  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  TOLLIES. 

^Neither  volume  can  be  correctly  understood  without 
it  is  studied  in  connection  with  the  other,  and  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  both  is  entirely  essential  to 
a  correct  understanding  of  the  Avill  of  God,  and  the 
nature  of  man.  God  has  opened  the  great  book  of 
nature  before  the  eyes  of  all  humanity,  and  in  this 
book  he  has  registered  all  the  laws  by  which  he 
governs  man  as  a  natural  being,  and  we  are  taught 
a  lesson  from  its  pages  by  the  experience  of  every 
day.  Every  time  we  observe  the  operation  of  a 
natural  law,  or  seek  the  true  cause  of  an  effect,  we 
are  reading  in  this  great  volume,  and  ascertaining 
the  will  of  God.  Every  surrounding  object  bears  the 
impress  of  his  omnipotent  seal,  and  all  the  events  of 
life  and  results  of  human  actions  are  only  exemplifi- 
cations of  the  laws  of  nature.  No  human  power 
can  resist  or  evade  the  operation  of  these  unchange- 
able laws,  while  the  enjoyment  of  true  happiness  is 
the  reward  of  acting  in  accordance  with  the  will 
of  God  as  thus  expressed,  and  misery,  pain,  and 
death,  are  the  inevitable  penalties  which  attend  its 
violation. 

But  who  can  walk  forth  amid  the  smiling  beauties 
of  the  natural  world,  and  enjoy  the  loveliness  with 
which  God  has  robed  the  creation ;  who  can  walk 
beneath  the  umbrageous  canopy  of  the  giant  oaks,  and 
thus  contemplate  nature  in  her  unmutilated  grandeur, 
until  the  soul  is  lost  in  bewildering  reveries,  and 
feels  that  it  is  holding  sweet  communion  with  its 
Creator ;  who  can  look  into  illimitable  etherial  space 
and  there  behold  innumerable  shining  worlds  hang- 
ing as  though  they  were  pendant  upon  the  Almighty 
arm ;  who  can  look  thus  into  the  very  face  of  a  benefi- 
cent omnipotence,  and  yet  deny  his  existence  ?  Who 
can  thus  read  in  the  bible  of  nature  without  exclaim- 
ing, in  the  language  of  inspiration,  "0  Lord,  how 


WOMAN'S  EIGHTS.  49 

manifold  are  thy  works ;  in  wisdom  hast  thou  made 
them  all ;  the  earth  is  full  of  thy  riches." 

In  accordance  with  this  necessary  agreement  be- 
tween Scripture  and  nature,  we  find  that  if  woman 
yields  obedience  to  the  precepts  of  Scripture,  she  ful- 
fills the  requirements  of  the  laws  of  her  nature.  She 
can  not  violate  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  without  at 
the  same  time,  and  by  the  same  act,  violating  the 
laws  of  her  nature,  and  consequently  suffering  the 
inevitable  penalty  attached  to  such  violation.  Human 
events  are  controlled  by  human  action.  The  laws  of 
nature,  which  manifest  the  will  of  God,  operate  with 
perfect  regularity,  but  the  action  of  men  upon  which 
these  laws  operate,  are  continually  varying;  and  hence 
result  the  variety  of  events  which  occur  in  every  day 
life,  and  in  the  history  of  man.  These  laws  operate 
upon  every  human  act,  whether  it  be  trifling  or  im- 
portant; and  if  the  act  be  in  accordance  with  the 
requirements  of  these  laws,  the  event  or  result  pro- 
duced is  beneficial  to  mankind;  but  if  the  act  is  in 
violation  of  these  requirements,  the  event  or  result 
is  disastrous  to  mankind,  and  produces  misery  and 
suffering.  Hence  the  fate  of  woman,  as  well  as  man, 
depends  upon  her  own  conduct;  if  her  actions  are  in 
accordance  with  the  requirements  of  her  nature,  she 
will  be  happy  and  rise  in  the  scale  of  being ;  but  on 
the  contrary,  if  her  actions  are  in  violation  of  the 
laws  of  her  nature,  her  misery  and  degradation  are 
as  inevitable  as  God  is  omnipotent.  She  may  have 
complete  control  over  her  actions,  but  the  laws  of  her 
nature  God  alone  controls,  and  she  can  no  more  con- 
trol these  laws  than  she  can  control  the  revolution  of 
the  planets  of  the  solar  system.  Hence  woman  will 
be  woman  as  long  as  she  remains  a  human  being,  all 
the  inventions  and  contrivances  of  man  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding. 


50  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

But  although  God  governs  man  by  unchanging 
natural  laws,  the  operations  of  which  man  can  in  no 
•wise  resist,  avoid,  or  control,  yet  we  find  that  we 
have  some  restless  spirits  in  our  own  age,  who  so  far 
mistake  the  object  and  power  of  human  action,  that 
they  would  systematically  set  themselves  to  work  to 
repeal  the  laws  of  nature,  arid  to  institute,  in  their 
Stead,  by  human  legislation,  a  system  of  laws  which 
they  seem  to  think  would  be  much  more  just  than 
those  of  their  Creator,  and  would  relieve  poor  woman 
of  many  wrongs  and  oppressions  which  are  inflicted 
upon  her  by  her  Creator.  It  is  to  be  feared  that 
these  ladies  and  gentlemen,  when  they  attempt  to 
repeal  the  laws  of  nature,  or  which  amounts  to  nearly 
the  same  thing,  to  make  human  laws  in  defiance  of 
natural  laws,  will  find  themselves  in  the  same  situ- 
ation that  mythology  represents  the  heathen  god 
Mercury.  It  is  said  that  he  attempted  to  steal  the 
thunder-bolt  of  Jupiter,  but  found  it  too  hot  for  his 
fingers,  and  was  obliged  to  drop  it.  They  will  find 
that  the  nature  of  woman  is  not  subject  to  the  juris- 
diction of  human  law,  and  that  they  have  attempted 
to  steal  the  prerogative  of  a  higher  power.  How 
supremely  ridiculous  is  the  whole  gist  of  these  reso- 
lutions, which  supposes  that  unjust  human  laws  are 
all  that  prevent  woman  from  becoming  equal  to 
man  in  the  exercise  of  rights  and  discharge  of  duties. 


We  have  now  considered  the  most  important  claims 
contained  in  the  resolutions.  We  have  entered  at 
large  upon  the  discussion  of  the  nature  of  woman  as 
it  regards  the  exercise  of  the  rights  there  demanded, 
and  it  is  thought  that  it  has  been  conclusively  shown 
that  woman's  proper  sphere  of  action  is  not  in  the 
exercise  of  political  or  civil  rights.  As  we  have  been 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  51 

mostly  engaged  in  denying  rights  to  woman,  it  is  but 
proper  that  we  should  now  point  out  some  of  those 
rights  which  are  congenial  to  her  nature,  and  specify 
some  of  the  duties  which  she  may  successfully  dis- 
charge ;  for  it  is  too  obvious  to  require  any  demon- 
stration, that  a  being  such  as  she,  endowed  with  the 
noblest  attributes  of  human  nature,  and  capable  of 
attaining  the  highest  state  of  human  existence,  is 
invested  with  rights,  and  intrusted  with  duties,  the 
proper  discharge  of  which  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance to  the  interest  and  welfare  of  humanity.  We 
shall  accordingly  proceed  to  consider  the  rights  and 
duties,  the  proper  exercise  and  discharge  of  which 
enable  her  to  exert  a  controlling  influence  over  the 
human  race,  and  to  demonstrate  that  she  is  thus 
invested  with  a  controlling  power  over  the  formation 
of  political  laws  and  institutions,  and  that  she  can 
exert  this  influence  only  by  the  proper  exercise 
and  faithful  discharge  of  her  legitimate  rights  and 
duties. 

We  therefore  propose  to  consider  the  influence  of 
woman,  only  as  it  is  exerted  in  a  public  capacity  ;  and 
as  many  of  her  rights  and  duties  have  been  incident- 
ally noticed  in  the  preceding  pages,  it  will  be  need- 
less to  repeat  them  here,  farther  than  is  necessary  to 
present  the  question  intelligibly  to  the  reader.  It 
has  been  shown  that  man  is  placed  upon  the  earth, 
subject  to  certain  inexorable,  unyielding  laws,  which 
were  coeval  with  his  birth,  and  that  the  operation  of 
these  laws  is  placed  far  beyond  his  control.  God 
has  thus  placed  man ;  and  created  such  an  order  of 
things  as  we  find  existing  around  us,  for  reasons 
which  are  incomprehensible  to  human  intelligence, 
and  are,  therefore,  not  proper  subjects  for  human  in- 
quiry, but  what  these  natural  principles  and  condi- 
tions are,  which  so  intimately  affect  human  welfare, 


t)2  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

are  the   grandest   and  most   important    objects  of 
human  investigation. 

"  To  know  thyself;  presume  not  God  to  scan, 
The  proper  study  of  mankind,  is  man." 

As  the  force  of  these  laws  extends  to  every  human 
act,  and  it  is  impossible  for  man  to  control  or  escape 
their  operations,  it  follows  that  a  strict  conformity 
to  all  their  requirements  is  the  source  of  all  human 
happiness,  and  that  the  violation  of  them  is  the 
source  of  all  misery  and  suffering,  and,  hence,  it  is 
obvious  that  if  we  would  learn  how  to  be  happy,  we 
must  ascertain  their  relation  to,  and  bearing  upon, 
every  act  which  we  are  required  to  perform  in  all  the 
relations  of  life.  These  principles  admitted,  the  study 
of  the  relation  or  connection,  which  exists  between  the 
particular  nature  of  man,  and  the  universal  nature 
by  which  he  is  surrounded,  becomes  of  the  first  im- 
portance to  man,  and  conformity  to  its  requirements 
the  highest  object  of  human  existence.  Upon  this 
basis  must  be  founded  all  true  happiness ;  that  ines- 
timable blessing,  which  it  is  the  professed  aim  and 
object  of  every  member  of  the  great  human  family 
to  obtain.  But  how  vain,  how  inconsistent,  how  un- 
reasonable are  all  the  various  plans  and  schemes 
which  are  attempted  in  the  futile  hope  of  attaining 
this  great  object  in  some  other  way  than  that  desig- 
nated by  the  God  of  nature.  Most  persons  think 
that  happiness  consists  in  the  accumulation  and  po- 
session  of  excessive  wealth;  many  think  that  to  in- 
dulge in  the  follies  of  fashion,  is  to  be  happy ;  some 
seek  happiness  by  indulging  in  one  vice,  and  some 
in  an  other,  and  as  all  practice  more  or  less  of  vice, 
which  necessarily  prevents  the  enjoyment  of  true 
happiness,  we  consequently,  seldom,  if  ever,  meet  a 
person  who  is  truly  happy. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  man  is  thus  unhappy,  he  is 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  53 

not  so  because  his  Creator  made  him  so,  but  because 
he  makes  himself  so.  God  has  offered  him  happi- 
ness upon  conditions,  which  he  might  easily  ascer- 
tain and  obey ;  and  punishes  him  with  suffering  and 
misery  if  he  disobey.  Yet  he  perverts  the  benefi- 
cent designs  of  his  Creator,  and  thus,  by  his  own  acts, 
converts  the  means  of  his  happiness  into  the  source 
of  his  misery.  While  the  attainment  of  happiness 
is  the  object  of  all  human  effort,  that  effort  is  so 
directed  that  it  necessarily  defeats  its  own  purpose. 
While  true  happiness  is  to  be  gained  only  by  acting 
in  strict  accordance  with  the  laws  of  nature,  man 
commences  its  pursuit  by  violating  these  laws,  and 
then  because  he  is  unsuccessful,  he  says  he  is  unfor- 
tunate. Every  human  being  will  be  thus  unfortunate 
so  long  as  he  continues  to  violate  the  laws  of  nature, 
and  unsuccessful  every  time  he  engages  in  a  contest 
with  his  Creator. 

Man  does  not  often  wilfully,  or  maliciously  violate 
the  laws  of  nature ;  but  he  does  so  through  igno- 
rance, and  as  he  gropes  his  way  through  the  impen- 
etrable darkness,  which  surrounds  his  benighted 
mind,  he  is  bewildered  and  confounded  by  the  events 
which  legitimately  result  from  the  regular  operation 
of  these  laws  upon  his  own  conduct,  and  ignorantly 
attributes  them  to  the  mysterious  and  inscrutable 
dispensation  of  Providence.  These  laws  are  fixed 
and  determinate,  and  man  may  easily  ascertain  the 
conditions  of  those  which  most  intimately  affect  his 
own  welfare,  and  then  the  way  which  leads  to  true 
happiness  would  no  longer  be  a  profound  mystery. 
As  it  is,  man  is  an  incomprehensible  mystery  to  him- 
self, and  after  the  experience  of  six  thousand  years, 
he  seems  to  have  gained  no  reliable  information,  which 
can  enable  him  to  avoid  the  dangerous  snags  which 
beset  the  stream  of  time.  All  mankind  seems  to  be 


54  MODERN    FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

on  an  expedition  of  discovery  to  seek  out  the  road 
which  leads  to  true  happiness,  but  being  led  by  a  false 
guide,  they  are  seeking  in  a  wrong  direction,  and  con- 
sequently, generation  after  generation  passes  away, 
and  man  still  fails  to  arrive  at  the  promised  land. 

It  is  not  asserted  that  all  the  doubt  and  uncertain- 
ty which  attend  human  affairs,  can  be  removed  by 
the  study  of  nature,  for  the  nature  of  man  is  inhe- 
rently fallible ;  but  effects  follow  causes  with  entire 
certainty,  and  the  laws  of  nature  operate  with  per- 
fect regularity,  and  as  the  events  of  human  life  are 
the  effects  of  natural  laws,  operating  upon  human 
conduct,  all  that  is  required  to  make  these  effects 
conducive  to  human  happiness,  is  to  conform  human 
conduct  to  the  requirements  of  the  natural  laws,  and 
as  man  can  ascertain  what  these  requirements  are, 
and  has  perfect  control  over  his  own  conduct,  what  is 
to  prevent  him  from  attaining  a  very  perfect  state  of 
happiness  ?  When  man  thus  understands  how  events 
are  produced,  the  mystery  is  explained.  The  mys- 
tery consists  in  his  ignorance  of  very  simple  facts. 
When  a  person  violates  natural  laws,  and  in  conse- 
quence suffers  an  attack  of  disease,  he  is  frequently 
at  a  loss  to  know  the  cause  of  his  suffering,  but  if 
he  thoroughly  understood  the  laws  of  his  nature,  he 
could  easily  trace  the  effect  to  its  cause.  The  an- 
cients were  terrified  by  every  eclipse  of  the  sun  or 
moon,  regarding  it  as  a  manifestation  of  divine 
wrath,  or  as  the  precursor  of  some  terrible  event ; 
whereas,  since  science  has  explained  the  phenomenon, 
it  is  beheld  with  mingled  feelings  of  reverence  and 
awe,  as  a  display  of  the  infinite  power  and  goodness 
of  God. 

All  is  simple  and  consistent  when  once  it  is  un- 
derstood. But  why  has  man  gone  off  to  investigate 
the  phenomena  of  other  spheres,  while  he  has  so 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  55 

grossly  neglected  the  phenomena  of  his  own  nature  ? 
It  is  certainly  important  to  understand  the  natural 
laws  which  control  the  system  of  worlds,  but  how 
much  more  important  is  it  to  man  to  understand  the 
natural  laws  which  control  man  himself.  Those  dis- 
tant spheres  will  fulfill  the  beneficent  purposes,  for 
which  they  are  designed,  even  though  man  should 
neglect  them,  but  can  he  fulfill  the  beneficent  purposes 
for  which  he  is  designed,  if  he  neglect  those  immu- 
table laws  which  decide  the  effect  of  every  human  act. 
No  human  act  which  accorded  with  the  requirements 
of  nature  ever  yet  produced  pain  or  suffering;  no 
act  which  violated  them  ever  yet  failed  to  produce  its 
unhappy  results ;  no  human  undertaking  which  ful- 
filled these  requirements  ever  failed  of  success,  all 
that  violate  them  are  necessarily  unsuccessful.  The 
unpardonable  ignorance  which  prevails  among  man- 
kind in  regard  to  the  principles  of  nature,  is  the 
principle  reason  why  so  much  folly,  vice,  and  crime, 
so  much  suffering,  misery  and  woe,  prevail  in  the 
ranks  of  humanity. 

How  strange  it  is,  that  man,  endowed  as  he  is  with 
all  the  faculties  of  rationality,  can  not  be  induced  to 
consult  his  own  interest,  and  promote  his  own  wel- 
fare, by  earnestly  studying  the  real  conditions  of  his 
earthly  situation.  As  it  is,  he  is  the  mere  foot-ball 
of  nature,  kicked  about  by  the  operation  of  her  laws, 
and  yielding  to  her  stern  authority,  with  subdued 
submission,  as  though  he  were  the  martyr  of  honest 
effort,  in  a  world  of  chance,  whereas  if  man  would 
devote  himself  to  the  study  of  himself,  and  observe 
the  lessons  thus  learned,  and  cooperate  with  nature 
in  promoting  his  own  happiness  and  success,  instead 
of  finding  her  a  stern  and  relentless  mistress, 
severely  punishing  him  for  every  act  of  disobedience, 
he  would  find  her  a  true  and  faithful  friend,  whose 


56  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

every  act  is  an  act  of  benevolence,  and  whose  only 
object  is,  to  aid  him  in  securing  the  enjoyment  of  true 
happiness. 

If  persons  are  amenable  to  laws,  the  provisions  of 
which  they  have  no  means  of  ascertaining ;  if  they 
do  not  know  whether  a  given  act  will  incur  a  penalty 
or  receive  a  reward,  they  must  unavoidably  be  un- 
happy and  .oppressed.  If  a  tyrant  can  arbitrarily 
establish  laws,  and  inflict  punishment  upon  persons, 
for  acts,  which  they  had  no  opportunity  of  knowing, 
were  contrary  to  any  law,  such  persons  are  subject 
to  the  worst  form  of  oppression,  to  which  man  can 
be  reduced.  With  infinitely  more  force  do  these 
results  attend  the  operation  of  the  laws  of  nature, 
for  the  penalties  of  their  violation  follow  with  un- 
erring certainty,  yet  God  has  not  instituted  them 
capriciously,  nor  in  the  manner  of  a  tyrant,  for  He 
instituted  them,  when  he  created  man,  and  they  have 
operated  with  perfect  regularity  through  all  the  ages 
of  human  existence,  and  He  has  endowed  man  with 
capacity  and  affords  him  ample  opportunity  to  ascer- 
tain the  provisions  of  all  the  laws,  which  govern 
him  as  a  natural  being.  Yet,  in  this  advanced  age 
of  human  existence,  man  is  still  groping  his  way  in 
doubt  and  darkness ;  uncertain  whether  nature  will 
reward  or  punish  his  acts,  thus  subjecting  himself  to 
tyranny  and  oppression,  while  he  has  it  in  his  power 
to  be  free  and  happy,  and  regarding  the  regular  and 
definite  operations  of  the  laws  of  nature,  as  the  in- 
scrutable dispensations  of  a  mysterious  providence. 
In  such  a  state  of  things,  how  can  it  be  otherwise, 
than  that  the  world  should  be  flooded  in  vice  and 
folly ;  and  that  wrong  and  oppression  should  stalk 
forth  unrebuked,  in  the  light  of  a  civilization,  which 
is  itself  a  cloud  of  darkness,  so  far  as  regards  the 
most  essential  and  fundamental  interest  of  humanity. 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  57 

If  only  the  time,  which  is  now  spent  in  the  worse 
than  useless  occupation  of  novel  writing  and  reading, 
were  properly  devoted  to  the  study  of  man  and  the 
laws  of  nature,  it  would  shed  an  effulgence  of  light 
upon  the  world,  from  which  vice  and  folly  would 
shrink  with  shame,  and  no  longer  dress  themselves 
in  virtue's  garb,  in  order  the  more  effectually  to  em- 
bitter the  cup  of  human  happiness.  It  seems  strange 
that  the  noblest  faculties  of  rational  beings  can  be 
perverted  and  vitiated  to  that  degree,  which  enables 
them  to  derive  more  pleasure  and  satisfaction,  from 
the  vain  pursuit  of  the  visionary  phantoms  and  unna- 
tural creations  of  modern  romances,  which  holds  no 
allegiance  to  truth,  and  disregards  and  misrepresents 
all  the  laws  of  real  being  ;  than  they  can  derive  from 
the  study  of  those  eternal  and  immutable  principles, 
which  constitute  man  what  he  is,  and  connect  him 
with  all  the  objects  of  the  surrounding  world,  and  in 
reading  the  will  of  God,  as  he  has  written  it  with  his 
own  hand  upon  the  broad  face  of  nature. 

Thdfcaost  important  acquaintance  which  any  per- 
son can  make  is  with  himself.  It  is  the  acquaint- 
ance, which,  of  all  others,  should  be  most  carefully 
and  assiduously  cultivated.  Whether  our  own  nature 
shall  be  our  friend  or  foe,  is  determined  by  our  own 
acts.  If  ourselves  act  the  part  of  a  faithful  friend, 
nature  will  never  be  backward  in  reciprocating  the 
friendship,  and  will  always  reward  us  with  the  kind- 
est favors ;  but  if  ourselves  are  faithless,  and  treat 
her  with  indifference  or  neglect,  she  resents  the  in- 
dignity with  a  stern  and  unsparing  hand.  She  is  a 
devoted  friend  and  an  uncompromising  foe.  She 
faithfully  protects  and  rewards  those  who  abide  by 
the  terms  of  allegiance,  but  grants  no  quarter  to 
those  who  make  war  upon  her  government.  But  we 
must  all  be  either  her  friend  or  foe,  for,  her  govern- 


58  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

ment  extends  to  the  farthest  limit  of  human  exist- 
ence. Her  laws  are  all  beneficent,  but  unyielding, 
and  hence,  if  we  will  not  accept  the  rewards  of  obe- 
dience, we  must  suffer  the  penalties  of  disobedience. 

But  while  man  goes  plodding  his  way  through  the 
world  of  human  life,  unacquainted  with  the  laws  by 
which  he  is  governed,  their  frequent  violation  is  un- 
avoidable, and  hence  he  frequently  suffers  the  most 
fearful  penalties,  and  but  rarely  enjoys  the  sweetest 
rewards.  Certainly,  if  man  were  acquainted  with 
the  laws  which  govern  him  as  a  natural  being,  he 
would  not  wilfully  and  deliberately  commit  those 
acts,  which  must  inevitably  entail  upon  him  unmiti- 
gated suffering  and  misery.  But  it  requires  the  fac- 
ulties of  rationality  to  enable  a  being  to  act  the 
most  irrationally.  If  these  faculties  are  properly 
developed,  they  are  capable  of  accomplishing  much 
higher  purposes  than  mere  animal  instinct ;  but  if 
they  are  perverted  they  lead  to  much  greater  evil. 
Hence  the  evil  which  is  in  the  world,  results  from  the 
perversion  of  the  rational  faculties  of  manffc  And 
hence,  man,  being  endowed  with  rational  faculties 
by  their  perversion,  acts  more  irrationally  than  his 
horse,  for  the  man  will  wilfully  and  deliberately 
commit  acts  which  his  rationality  ought  to  teach  him 
will  defeat  his  own  happiness,  and  produce  misery 
and  suffering ;  but  the  horse,  if  left  to  his  own  in- 
stinct, and  is  not  forced  to  violate  the  laws  of  his 
nature  by  man,  he  will  not  violate  them  himself,  or 
indulge  in  excess  of  any  kind,  and,  consequently,  he 
will  suffer  scarcely  any  pain  or  misery  until  the  day 
of  his  death,  nor  even  then,  if  he  has  been  strictly 
virtuous.  There  is  scarcely  any  disease  or  deformity 
among  the  wild  herds  as  they  roam  at  large  upon 
their  native  plains. 

Are  misery  and  suffering  the  necessary  concern- 


59 


itants  of  rationality  ?  Must  man  necessarily  be 
more  miserable  than  the  lower  animals,  because  he 
is  endowed  with  a  higher  order  of  faculties  ?  How 
long  are  the  attributes  of  the  highest  rationality  to 
remain  the  source  of  the  grossest  irrationality  ?  How 
long  shall  the  choicest  blessings  of  God  be  converted 
by  man  into  his  direst  curses  ?  How  long,  is  it 
asked?  Even  until  man  shall  learn  the  laws  of  his 
nature  and  obey  them.  With  all  his  boasted  ration- 
ality, let  him  take  an  important  and  instructive  les- 
son from  the  brute,  when  its  nature  is  not  perverted 
by  himself.  If  he  thinks  that  man  suffers  more  and 
the  brute  less,  as  the  necessary  consequence  of  any 
natural  organization,  he  is  very  much  mistaken. 
There  is  not  the  slightest  necessity  of  man,  in  his 
highest  state  of  civilization,  provided  it  be  a  true 
civilization,  founded  upon  his  nature,  suffering  any 
more  or  any  greater  variety  of  disease  or  misery 
than  does  the  wild  beast  roaming  at  liberty  in  his 
congenial  climate,  and  reposing  in  his  native  lair, 
away  from  the  haunts  of  men.  Indeed,  there  is  not 
so  much,  for  the  rationality  of  man  should  teach  him 
the  laws  of  his  nature,  and  to  guard  against  their 
violation ;  whereas,  the  instinct  of  the  wild  beast 
does  not,  in  all  cases,  guard  it  against  the  violation 
of  natural  laws.  But  the  cause  of  the  great  differ- 
ence in  the  amount  of  human  suffering,  and  the 
amount  of  suffering  among  the  lower  animals,  is 
because  the  lower  animals  do  not  pervert  their  in- 
stinct, while  man  does  pervert  his  rationality,  and 
the  unperverted  instinct  of  the  lower  animals  guard 
them  against  the  violation  of  natural  laws,  while  the 
perverted  rationality  of  man  causes  him  to  recklessly 
violate  the  most  important  laws  of  his  nature. 

From  the  above  reflections  it  is  obvious  that  human 
happiness  can  be  attained  only  by  a  strict  compliance 


60  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

with  the  natural  laws  which  relate  to  man,  and  it  is 
also  obvious  that  every  human  undertaking,  the  ac- 
complishment of  which  will  require  human  action, 
which  is  in  violation  of  these  laws,  must  not  only 
utterly  fail,  but  must  also  inevitably  involve  the 
actors  in  suffering  and  misery.  As  man  can  in  no* 
wise  exercise  any  control  over  the  laws  of  nature, 
and  as  these  laws  operate  with  such  stern  certainty 
upon  all  his  actions,  it  is  evident  that  the  only 
means  by  which  he  can  exercise  any  control  over  his 
own  state  or  condition  of  existence,  is  by  ascertain- 
ing these  laws  and  conforming  his  actions  to  their 
requirements. 

Hence  it  follows  conclusively,  that  if  woman  is  to 
exercise  any  control  over  her  earthly  condition  or 
state  of  existence,  she  must  do  so  by  acting  in  accord- 
ance with  the  requirements  of  her  nature ;  that  is, 
she  can  not  violate  the  laws  of  her  nature,  and  there- 
by promote  her  welfare  as  a  human  being.  Now  it 
was  shown,  when  we  were  considering  the  resolutions 
that  woman  is  not  endowed  with  those  natural  quali- 
ties which  are  essential  to  the  successful  exercise  of 
political  or  civil  rights,  and  hence  were  she  to  attempt 
to  exercise  these  rights,  it  would  require  action  upon 
her  part,  which  would  be  in  violation  of  the  laws  of 
her  nature,  and,  consequently,  it  could  not  possibly 
promote  her  Avelfare  as  a  human  being,  but  must  in- 
evitably involve  her  in  the  consequences  of  violated 
natural  laws.  The  argument  may  be  syllogistically 
stated  thus :  all  human  undertakings  which  are  con- 
trary to  the  laws  of  nature  must  be  unsuccessful,  the 
attempt,  by  woman,  to  exercise  political  and  civil  rights 
would  be  a  human  undertaking  contrary  to  the  laws 
of  nature  ;  therefore,  the  attempt  by  woman  to  exer- 
cise political  and  civil  rights,  must  be  unsuccessful. 
Hence  it  follows,  that  woman  can  not  exercise  any 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  61 

salutary  control  over  the  formation  and  establishment 
of  political  and  civil  institutions,  by  the  exercise  of 
rights  which  are  uncongenial  to  her  nature,  and, 
therefore,  it  results  that  if  she  can  exercise  this  con- 
trol, she  can  do  so  only  by  the  exercise  of  those 
rights  and  the  discharge  of  those  duties  for  which 
nature  has  qualified  her.  That  she  may,  and  does  do 
this,  we  will  now  proceed  to  consider. 

Man  and  woman  are  equally  subjected  to  the  laws 
and  institutions  of  civil  government.  She  is  prosper- 
ous and  happy  under  the  protection  of  just  laws, 
but  unjust  laws,  perhaps,  more  disastrously  effect  her 
condition  than  that  of  the  opposite  sex.  Hence  it 
is  obvious,  that  if  she  is  invested  with  no  power  or 
influence  in  the  formation  and  establishment  of  the 
laws  and  institutions  by  which  she  is  governed,  she 
is  continually  liable  to  suffer  wrongs  and  oppressions, 
which  neither  God  nor  man  has  invested  her  with  the 
power  to  avert  or  to  mitigate.  Now  it  is  a  sound 
principle  of  political  justice,  that  the  influence  of  all 
those  that  are  governed  should  be  properly  exerted, 
and  have  its  just  weight  in  the  formation  of  govern- 
ment, in  order  that  the  rights  of  all  may  be  protected, 
and,  therefore,  if  woman  does  not  possess  the  power 
of  properly  exerting  this  influence,  she  is  deprived 
of  her  just  rights,  and  either  the  laws  of  God  or  man 
need  reform.  But  as  it  has  been  shown  that  she  can 
not  exert  this  influence  in  a  proper  manner,  by  the 
exercise  of  political  or  civil  rights,  and  as  she  does 
not  claim,  nor  can  there  be  extended  to  her,  any 
other  rights  by  human  laws  which  can  enable  her  to 
exert  it,  it  follows  that  if  she  is  deprived  of  her  just 
rights  in  the  formation  and  establishment  of  civil 
government,  that  she  is  deprived  of  them  by  the 
laws  of  God. 

How  can  it  be  possible   that   God  has  endowed 


62  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

human  beings  with  the  noblest  attributes  of  human 
nature,  and  then  placed  such  human  beings  in  such 
an  earthly  situation,  that  even  the  proper  exercise 
of  these  noblest  attributes  can  exert  no  influence  in 
shaping  the  affairs,  and  in  promoting  the  true  in- 
terests and  welfare  of  humanity.  Is  the  fairest  of 
all  God's  earthly  creations  without  a  useful  object? 
Is  she  herself  created  only  to  become  a  useless  but- 
terfly of  fashion — to  help  nice  young  men  of  fashion- 
able worthlessness  kill  the  time  which  they  should 
devote  to  honest  effort  ?  No.  She  is  created  for  a 
higher  and  a  nobler  purpose.  But  because  she  is 
not  invested  with  the  right  to  unsex  herself,  because 
she  is  not  permitted  to  attempt  to  make  a  man  of  her- 
self, by  the  exercise  of  all  the  rights,  and  discharge 
of  all  the  duties  which  belong  to  man  alone;  let  us 
see  if  she  is,  therefore,  invested  with  no  rights  and 
exercises,  no  influence  in  the  formation  of  the  politi- 
cal institutions  by  which  she  is  governed.  Let  us  see 
if  it  is  really  essential  to  human  welfare,  and  neces- 
sary to  protect  woman  against  wrong  and  oppression, 
that  we  should  set  ourselves  about  effecting  a  reform 
in  the  laws  of  nature. 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  remark,  that  the 
position  which  woman  occupied,  was  a  correct  expo- 
nent of  the  condition  of  human  society.  Now  why  is 
woman  more  degraded  in  the  savage  state,  and  more 
elevated  in  the  civilized  state  than  man  ?  Is  it  because 
man,  without  the  aid  or  influence  of  woman,  gradually 
raises  in  the  scale  of  being,  as  he  merges  from  the 
savage  to  the  civilized  state  ?  We  know  that  the 
condition  of  woman  is  uniformly  elevated  as  man 
becomes  civilized ;  but  has  the  influence  of  woman 
nothing  to  do  with  the  progress  of  civilization  ?  Ah, 
there  is  the  gist  of  the  question.  No  nation  ever  has 
become  civilized,  unless  woman  were  at  least  partially 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  63 

acting  in  her  proper  sphere,  exercising  her  legiti- 
mate rights,  and  discharging  the  duties  which  she 
alone  can  discharge ;  and  we  hazard  nothing  in  the 
assertion,  that  no  nation  ever  will.  The  duties  which 
God  requires  at  the  hands  of  woman,  and  the  influence 
which  she  exerts  over  human  society,  are  too  vitally 
important  to  be  neglected  or  misdirected,  without  the 
most  disastrous  results. 

Although  man  were  to  faithfully  discharge  every 
duty  which  progressive  civilization  requires  of  him, 
vet  where  woman  fails  in  the  proper  discharge  of  her 
legitimate  duties,  man  can  no  more  attain  a  true 
civilization,  than  the  eagle  can  take  his  lofty  flight 
with  one  of  his  wings  broken.  Indeed,  it  must  be 
assigned  as  one  of  the  principal  reasons  that  man  is 
still  lingering,  as  it  were,  at  the  very  starting  point 
of  true  civilization,  is  because  the  sterling  qualities 
of  woman's  nature  are  perverted  by  a  misapprehen- 
sion of  her  true  mission  upon  earth ;  and  thus,  in- 
stead of  being  an  active  and  efficient  promoter  of 
substantial  progress,  the  tendency  is  to  convert  her 
into  a  mere  useless  ornament  of  society ;  a  kind  of 
fashionable,  fancy  toy,  which  only  does  to  look  at,  and 
play  with.  How  is  it  possible  to  conceive  a  more  un- 
reasonable mistake  than  that  to  suppose  it  is  woman's 
true  mission  here  below  to  display  little  white  hands 
and  delicate  forms,  and  to  zealously  engage  in  the 
important  duty  of  trying  how  very  small  she  can 
wear  her  bonnet,  and  how  extremely  large  her 
hoops?  Yet  such  are  the  decided  tendencies  of  the 
age.  How  can  it  be  expected  that  true  civilization 
can  be  promoted  in  an  age,  when  woman  becomes 
the  more  respectable  the  more  she  is  enabled  to  neg- 
lect the  discharge  of  the  most  essential  duties  which 
are  required  of  her?  Civilization,  under  such  in- 
fluences, must  become  degraded  into  mere  licentious 


64  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

effeminacy ;  and  the  sterling  qualities  of  'human  na- 
ture must  become  corrupted  and  debased  by  the  love 
of  wealth,  of  extravagant  luxury,  and  of  vicious 
display  in  dress,  and  style  of  living ;  and  fastidious, 
fashionable,  extravagant  worthlessness  become  the 
condition  of  life,  which  shall  most  captivate  the 
minds,  and  become  the  aim  of  the  rising  generations 
of  youth. 

As  woman  thus  impresses  her  own  character  upon 
the  civilization  of  the  age,  it  is  obvious  that  true 
civilization  can  be  attained  only  when  woman  shall 
act  in  her  true  sphere,  and  shall  faithfully  and  prop- 
erly discharge  all  the  duties  which  are  devolved 
upon  her  by  the  scheme  of  nature;  and  hence,  it 
results  that,  as  long  as  the  tendency  of  the  age  is 
to  make  her  a  mere  useless,  fashionable,  parlor  orna- 
ment, we  must  always  have  a  perverted  civilization ; 
and,  therefore,  it  is  obvious  that  our  approximation 
to  a  true  civilization  must  always  depend  upon  the 
conduct  of  woman.  If  she  act  in  the  sphere  for 
which  nature  has  qualified  her,  and  properly  dis- 
charge her  legitimate  duties,  we  must  necessarily 
advance ;  if  she  act  in  a  sphere  for  which  she  is  not 
thus  qualified,  or  neglect  the  discharge  of  her  proper 
duties,  we  must  necessarily  retrograde. 

These  views  being  correct,  it  is  perfectly  obvious 
that  woman  is  invested  with  a  controlling  influence 
over  the  political  institutions  by  which  she  is  gov- 
erned. Although  the  scheme  of  nature  requires  that 
man  shall  protect  woman  in  the  enjoyment  of  her 
legitimate  rights  and  privileges,  yet  she  is  invested 
with  an  influence  over  him  which  molds  his  nature 
into  shape,  and  directs  his  energies.  Thus  she  is 
invested  with  the  power  to  secure  her  own  protec- 
tion, and  to  exercise  the  rights  which  really  decide 
the  character  of  the  institutions  of  civil  government. 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  65 

Man  is  a  mere  machine,  driven  by  the  impulses  of 
his  nature.  The  physical  powers  are  the  machinery 
of  man,  and  his  mental  faculties  are  the  motive 
powers  by  which  the  machinery  is  set  in  motion.  The 
hands  never  act,  nor  the  feet  never  move,  except  by 
the  impulse  of  the  mind.  The  mind  wills,  the  body 
acts.  The  mind  controls  the  body,  and  hence  those 
powers  or  influences  which  develop  and  thus  control 
the  faculties  of  the  mind,  control  man,  both  in  his 
mental  and  physical  capacities. 

But  that  it  is  the  influence  of  woman  that  devel- 
ops and  shapes  the  faculties  of  the  mind  in  the 
youth  of  man,  scarcely  need  be  demonstrated  by 
argument.  The  youthful  mind  is  submitted  entirely 
to  her  control  at  that  period  of  its  existence  when 
its  faculties  are  as  pure  and  innocent  as  the  God 
who  gave  them,  and  when  they  receive  those  impres- 
sions and  developments  which  they  retain  for  ever 
afterward,  and  which  determine  the  action  of  the 
man  in  after  life.  This  is  the  most  important  of  all 
human  rights,  and  the  duties  and  responsibilities 
which  are  created  by  its  exercise  are  the  most  fear- 
fully important  which  are  devolved  upon  the  human 
kind.  She  is  thus  invested  with  the  right  to  develop 
the  faculties  of  an  immortal  mind,  which  is  to  deter- 
mine the  fortunes  of  the  man  in  time,  and  the  fate 
of  the  soul  in  eternity. 

"The  fire-side,"  says  Mr.  Goodrich,  "is  a  sem- 
inary of  infinite  importance.  It  is  important  because 
it  is  universal,  and  because  the  education  it  bestows, 
being  woven  into  the  woof  of  childhood,  gives  form 
and  color  to  the  whole  texture  of  life.  There  are 
few  who  can  receive  the  honors  of-  a  college,  but  all 
are  graduates  of  the  hearth.  The  learning  of  the 
university  may  fade  from  the  recollection,  its  classic 
lore  may  niolder  in  the  halls  of  memory,  but  the 
6 


ti 
66  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

simple  lessons  of  home,  enameled  upon  the  heart  of 
childhood,  defy  the  rust  of  years,  and  outlive  the 
more  mature,  but  less  vivid  picture  of  after  years. 
So  deep,  so  lasting,  indeed,  are  the  impressions  of 
early  life,  that  you  often  see  a  man  in  the  imbecility 
of  age,  holding  fresh  in  his  recollection  the  events 
of  childhood,  while  all  the  wide  space  between  that 
and  the  present  hour  is  a  blasted  and  forgotten  Waste. 
You  have  perchance  seen  an  old  and  half-obliterated 
portrait,  and  in  the  attempt  to  have  it  cleaned  and 
restored,  you  may  have  seen  it  fade  away,  while  a 
brighter  and  more  perfect  picture  painted  beneath,  is 
revealed  to  view.  This  portrait  first  drawn  upon  the 
canvas  is  not  an  inapt  illustration  of  youth;  and, 
though  it  be  concealed  by  some  after-design,  still  the 
original  traits  will  shine  through  the  outward  picture, 
giving  it  a  tone  while  fresh,  and  surviving  it  in  decay. 
Thus  it  is  with  the  fire-side — the  great  institution  of 
Providence  for  the  education  of  man." 

Woman,  and  she  only,  has  Providence  appointed 
ahd  qualified  to  teach  in  this  great  institution  for 
the  education  of  man.  It  is  her  peculiar  nature  that 
she  possesses  peculiar  powers  for  infusing  into  the 
youthful  mind  the  noblest  principles  of  true  human- 
ity, and  of  enlisting  and  developing  those  faculties 
of  the  maturing  rnind  which  elevate  and  ennoble 
human  character,  and  this  fact  alone  establishes,  be- 
yond all  question,  the  sphere  in  which  the  God  of 
nature  has  designed  and  qualified  her  to  act.  Her 
nature  mild,  gentle,  persevering,  patient,  submissive, 
affectionate,  and  lovely,  exerts  that  influence  over 
man  which  arouses  into  action  all  the  divine  attri- 
butes of  his  nature.  Thus  as  she  is  man's  inferior  in 
the  performance  of  all  the  sterner  duties  of  life,  she 
is  infinitely  his  superior  in  the  discharge  of  those 
nobler  and  more  lovely  duties  which  she  alone  can 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  67 

perform,  and  which  are  of  more  vital  importance  to 
the  true  interests  of  humanity  than  those  which  are 
exclusively  devolved  upon  him. 

Exercising  these  rights,  and  exerting  this  influ- 
ence, how  fearfully  important,  and  how  holy  is  the 
mission  upon  which  she  is  sent.  When  she  is  in- 
trusted with  the  infant  mind  of  man,  it  is  pure  and 
spotless,  unperverted  by  a  single  pernicious  passion 
or  sentiment,  and  capable  of  receiving  and  retaining 
any  principles  which  she  may  impress  upon  it ;  and 
when  her  duties  are  performed,  and  he  goes  forth  to 
mingle  in  the  strife  and  struggles  of  life,  and  to 
exercise  the  rights  and  discharge  the  duties  of  a 
citizen,  the  principles  and  motives  are  impressed 
upon  his  mind,  which  for  good  or  for  bad,  are  to 
control  his  acts  in  after  life.  Woman !  look  upon 
that  prattling  infant,  as  it  lies  helpless  upon  your 
knee.  Behold  in  it  the  germ  of  the  future  man, 
the  type  of  the  universal  humanity.  God  has  there 
spread  out  before  you  the  pure  and  spotless  tablets 
of  that  guiltless  mind,  and  calls  upon  you  to  write 
upon  them  Avith  your  own  hand  the  future  destiny 
of  that  child.  Angels  of  heaven  protect  her  while 
she  performs  the  fearful  duty.  The  consequences 
which  shall  result  from  the  manner  in  which  this 
duty  is  discharged,  will  speak  forth  in  every  act  of 
that  child,  as  long  as  it  shall  remain  a  denizen  of 
time,  and  still  speak  in  yet  more  startling  tones,, 
when  time  shall  be  no  more. 

Woman :  look  upon  that  infant  as  its  helpless  and 
angelic  beauty  pleads  for  the  faithful  and  earnest 
discharge  of  your  fearful  duty.  You  love  it  with  a 
heavenly  love,  every  emotion  of  your  soul,  every 
affection  of  your  nature,  are  bound  to  it  by  a  sincere 
fondness  and  devotion,  which  rise  far  above  the  cold- 
ness of  worldly  motives.  The  slightest  indications 


68  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

of  disease  send  a  thrill  of  terror  to  your  heart.  Ah, 
should  death  enter  there,  and  with  ruthless  grasp, 
snatch  away  that  purest  and  sweetest  gem  of  earthly 
nature,  how  it  would  change  all  the  loveliness  of 
nature,  and  the  pleasures  of  life,  into  glooms  -and 
frowns,  which  could  bring  no  relief  to  the  heart  too 
deeply  wounded.  Oh,  cruel  monster !  how  can'st  thou 
with  relentless  sternness  desolate  an  affection,  pure 
and  holy  enough  for  heaven  itself,  and  bedew  the 
brightest  and  most  joyous  abodes  of  life  with  the 
tears  of  sorrow,  by  blighting  that  lovely  plant  which 
was  just  budding  beneath  the  warm  sunshine  of  a 
mother's  love,  to  ripen  into  the  fruits  of  mature  man- 
hood. Yet  it  is  often  so. 

Look  upon  that  lifeless  infant,  as  it  lies  locked  in 
the  cold  embrace  of  death,  while  the  impress  of  purity 
and  innocence  are  yet  stamped  upon  its  countenance, 
and  its  loveliness  and  beauty  still  beam  forth,  even 
from  the  pale  shadows  of  death.  But  hush !  as  the 
mother  mournfully  kneels  beside  the  little  corpse,  as 
it  is  about  to  be  committed  to  its  kindred  dust,  and 
impresses  the  last  devoted  kiss,  and  sheds  the  last 
burning  tear  of  grief,  and  looks  for  the  last  time 
upon  that  countenance,  now  sad  and  pale  in  death, 
but  which  love,  alas,  has  rendered  but  too  dear,  could 
she  then  brush  away  the  mystic  vail  which  conceals 
the  hidden  future,  and  behold  her  darling  child  as  he 
might  have  been  had  he  been  spared  by  the  hand 
of  death,  but  steeped  and  blackened  in  all  the  vices 
and  miseries  which  attend  the  erring  boy  when  the 
mother's  influence  has  not  been  properly  exerted, 
and  she  failed  in  the  proper  discharge  of  her  fearful 
duties ;  could  she  have  seen  this,  how  her  tears  of 
grief  would  have  changed  into  tears  of  joy,  and  she 
would  arise  from  her  last  devotion,  thanking  God 
that  her  lovely  child  had  been  called  home  to  heaven 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  69 

before  the  purity  of  that  soul  had  been  contaminated 
by  all  the  ills  and  evils  which  beset  frail  humanity, 
and  which  so  frequently  lie  concealed  beneath  the 
most  enticing  pleasures  and  enjoyments  of  human 
life.  Woman !  as  you  lore  your  child,  devote  all 
the  energies  of  your  soul  to  the  proper  discharge  of 
the  responsible  duties  which  you  owe  to  that  child, 
and  its  future  usefulness  shall  bring  to  you  the 
sweetest  pleasures  which  can  gladden  a  mother's 
heart,  but  if  you  fail,  its  future  vice  and  disgrace 
may  bring  to  you  the  bitterest  woe  that  a  mother's 
broken  heart  can  feel. 

Youth  is  the  seed-time  of  life,  and  if  the  seeds 
of  vice  and  immorality  be  sown,  they  will  mature 
into  vicious  and  immoral  acts.  The  human  mind 
is  essentially  active,  all  its  faculties  are  formed  for 
action,  and  action  is  the  essential  element  of  their 
existence;  they  are  developed  into  strength  by  action, 
and  it  impresses  its  own  character  upon  them.  Hence 
it  is  impossible  to  prevent  the  action  of  the  mind,  or 
to  prevent  that  action  from  deciding  the  character 
of  the  man ;  and  hence,  if  the  mind  is  not  properly 
gratified  with  virtuous  action,  the  youth  will  be 
necessarily  impelled  into  the  practice  of  vice.  It  is 
this  continual  action  of  the  mind  that  forms  the 
education  of  the  man,  and  hence  if  the  youth  does 
not  receive  a  moral,  it  will  receive  an  immoral  edu- 
cation. But  the  siren  song  of  vice  is  peculiarly 
enchanting  to  the  youthful  mind,  while  the  teaching 
of  virtue,  unless  dressed  in  an  attractive  garb,  are 
very  repulsive.  Hence  the  practice  of  vice  becomes 
the  pleasure  and  recreation  of  the  young  mind,  while 
moral  discipline  becomes  its  task.  It  requires  no 
profound  learning  in  human  nature  to  be  able  to  tell, 
under  such  circumstances,  which  will  make  the  most 
lasting  impressions  upon  the  maturing  mind,  and 


70  MODERN   FANCIES  AND   FOLLIES. 

which  will  exercise  the  strongest  influence  over  the 
future  man.  Under  such  circumstances  the  very 
nature  of  youth  compels  it  to  love  vice  and  hate 
virtue. 

It  must  be  obvious  to  every  one,  that  nothing  can 
qualify  woman  for  the  proper  discharge  of  her  re- 
sponsible duties,  except  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
laws  of  human  nature.  She  is  intrusted  with  the 
instruction  of  the  human  mind  at  that  period  when 
the  chart  is  being  formed  which  is  to  direct  it 
through  the  journey  of  life.  The  school-teacher, 
who  so  many  mothers  seem  to  think  relieves*  them 
of  their  responsible  charge,  can  never  discharge  the 
duties  of  a  mother.  Merely  learning  the  rudiments 
of  science  can  not  implant  the  principles  of  true 
virtue  and  morality  in  the  youthful  mind.  These 
seeds  must  be  sown  by  the  mother,  and  the  tender 
plants  nurtured  and  matured  by  the  genial  warmth 
of  a  mother's  love  and  a  mother's  influence.  How 
certainly  can  we  tell  the  manner  in  which  the  mother's 
duty  has  been  discharged  at  home,  by  the  conduct  of 
the  child  at  school.  If  the  mother  has  suffered  the 
seeds  of  vice  to  take  root  in  the  youthful  mind,  they 
can  never  be  eradicated  in  the  school-room,  but  there 
the  youth  seeks  vicious  companions,  and  the  weeds 
are  cultivated  instead  of  destroyed,  and  in  manhood 
they  yield  an  abundant  harvest  of  vice  and  misery. 

But  mothers  do  not  often  fail  in  the  proper  dis- 
charge of  their  duties  through  willful  negligence, 
but  through  ignorance  of  what  those  duties  are. 
Who  can  reflect,  without  a  shudder,  that  the  rnind  is 
governed  by  immutable  laws,  that  the  question  of 
vice  and  virtue  depends  upon  its  being  developed  in 
accordance  with  these  laws,  and  that  those  to  whom 
its  most  important  developments  are  intrusted,  know 
absolutely  nothing  of  these  laws.  The  present  sys- 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  71 

tern  of  female  education  teaches  woman  nothing  in 
regard  to  the  proper  discharge  of  her  most  important 
duties.  Indeed,  they  have  directly  the  opposite  ten- 
dency. In  fact,  it  would  be  very  hard  to  conceive 
of  any  plan  by  which  she  could  be  so  successfully 
taught  that  which  she  should  not  know,  and  left  un- 
taught that  which  she  should  know,  and  thus  so 
effectually  defeat  all  the  noblest  purposes  of  her 
Creator,  as  by  placing  her  at  one  of  our  modern 
fashionable  boarding  schools.  It  is  most  generally 
the  case  that  young  ladies  here  learn  a  little  bad 
French,  and  get  an  imperfect  smattering  of  high- 
sounding  science,  which  is  most  uncongenial  to  their 
nature;  and,  while  they  are  obtaining  this  important 
knowledge,  they  are  so  faithfully  educated  in  false 
pride  and  fashionable  folly,  that  they  are  rendered 
thoroughly  worthless  for  "life,  as  far  as  regards  the 
proper  discharge  of  all  their  most  essential  duties.* 
Thus  is  woman  educated  in  the  higher  circles  of  civ- 
ilized society ;  and  thus  qualified,  the  infant  mind, 
in  all  its  purity  and  innocence,  is  placed  in  her 
charge,  and  she  is  required  to  develop  it  into  the 
shape  which  is  to  decide  its  future  vice  or  virtue.  It 
can  be  properly  developed  only  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  of  its  nature,  and  every  violation  of  these 
laws  is  most  fearfully  punished,  but  of  the  real  na- 
ture of  this  immortal  mind  and  its  natural  laws,  she 
is  entirely  ignorant.  Thus  the  materials  for  making 
a  virtuous  and  useful  man  are  placed  in  her  hands, 
but  her  education  not  having  qualified  her  for  the 
proper  discharge  of  the  duties  which  she  is  called 
upon  to  perform,  she  frequently  botches  her  work, 
and  makes  a  rascal. 

*We  shall  have  occasion  to  notice   this  subject   again  in  * 
succeeding  essay. 


72  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

Of  all  the  duties  which  are  devolved  upon  the 
human  race,  there  are  none  which  require  so  much 
skill  and  knowledge  as  the  proper  cultivation  of  the 
youthful  mind,  and  yet  there  is  no  duty  in  all  the 
wide  circle  of  life's  relations  which  is  not  better  un- 
derstood. Of  all  earthly  plants  it  is  the  most  deli- 
cate, and  yet  it  is  capable  of  receiving  the  highest 
state  of  cultivation,  and  yielding  the  most  abundant 
harvest  of  richest  fruits.  Mothers  almost  univer- 
sally bestow  the  most  anxious  care  upon  the  culture 
of  the  youthful  mind,  but  that  very  care  is  too  fre- 
quently the  cause  of  the  ruin  of  those  whom  they 
would  save.  It  is  not  from  a  want  of  desire  to  do 
their  duty,  nor  from  want  of  effort  made,  but  it  is 
the  want  of  correct  knowledge  of  the  manner  in 
which  those  duties  should  be  performed.  It  is  not 
unfrequently  the  case  that  they  over-do  their  duty 
in  their  anxious  efforts  to  fix  the  principles  of  virtue 
firmly  in  the  youthful  mind. 

Youth  is,  by  nature,  endowed  with  little  desires 
and  levities,  the  gratification  of  which  the  over-care- 
ful mother  supposes  would  lead  to  bad  results,  and 
endeavors  to  prevent  them,  but  being  natural  they 
are  gratified  by  stealth,  and  to  excess,  and  thus  ia 
induced  a  habit  which  may  overthrow  every  princi- 
ple of  virtue  which  she  has  succeeded  in  implanting 
in  the  mind.  Every  innocent  gratification  becomes 
vicious  by  excessive  indulgence,  and  when  the  natu- 
ral levities  of  youth  are  unduly  restrained,  whenever 
an  opportunity  offers  when  they  may  be  gratified 
without  the  fear  of  punishment,  they  are  almost  al- 
ways indulged  in  to  excess,  and  thus  are  frequently 
formed  in  early  youth,  those  vicious  habits  which  de- 
feat all  the  plans  of  usefulness  in  after  life.  The  great 
object  to  be  attained  in  the  proper  development  of 
the  mind  is  to  render  the  practice  of  virtue  pleasing 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  73 

and  attractive.  If  it  be  practiced  merely  through 
fear  of  punishment  for  practicing  vice,  whenever  it 
is  thought  that  the  punishment  can  be  escaped,  vice 
will  be  practiced  in  preference,  which  has  a  tendency 
to  fix  in  the  mind  a  love  for  vice,  and  a  hatred  for 
virtue.  The  operation  of  these  principles  exert  no 
light  influence  in  causing  the  great  amount  of  vice 
which  prevails  in  the  present  age.  The  only  means 
by  which  virtue  can  be  permanently  fixed  in  the 
youthful  mind,  so  that  it  can  withstand  the  tempta- 
tions of  life,  is  by  encouraging  the  proper  gratifica- 
tion of  all  natural  desires,  and  by  affording  facility 
to  the  enjoyment  of  all  innocent  amusements,  not 
merely  such  as  a  perverted  religious  conventionality 
may  consider  as  innocent,  but  all  such  as  are  natu- 
rally innocent  aside  from  religious  prejudice,  and  by 
teaching  the  youth,  upon  the  principles  of  nature, 
the  real  pleasures  and  substantial  happiness  which 
reward  the  practice  of  true  virtue,  and  the  misery  and 
suffering  which  inevitably  punish  the  practice  of  vice. 
Then  will  virtue  no  longer  be  practiced  as  a  hateful 
task,  and  vice  secretly  stolen  by  the  youth,  when 
the  watchful  eye  of  his  parent  is  not  on  him,  will  no 
longer  be  his  pleasure,  but  virtue  will  be  practiced 
for  the  love  of  itself,  and  vice,  appearing  in  its  true 
deformity,  will  be  shunned  as  a  monster,  and  thus  will 
be  thrown  around  the  mind  of  the  youth  a  substantial 
bulwark,  which  no  temptation  can  overthrow,  when 
he  is  no  longer  under  a  mother's  watchful  care. 
There  exists  in  every  unperverted  youthful  mind,  an 
active,  positive  desire  to  please,  an  inborn  love  for 
those  acts,  which  bring  such  an  abundant  harvest  of 
gladness  to  the  little  heart,  and  it  only  requires  to 
be  touched  by  the  magic  wand  of  a  mother's  love,  and 
influence  properly  exerted,  to  be  awakened  into  the 
most  sincere  and  heartfelt  acts  of  virtue.  Look  upon 
7 


74  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

that  little  face,  beaming  with  joyous  smiles,  in  the 
sunshine  of  a  mother's  love.  She  has  touched  the 
native  beauties  of  the  mind,  and  it  appears  lovely 
as  an  angel.  Ah,  but  beneath  those  joyous  smiles 
there  slumber  angry  passions,  which  may  be  awakened 
by  misdirected  education,  and  instead  of  an  angel,  it 
will  appear  as  a  devil.  Those  joyous  smiles  and 
playful  happy  pranks,  are  changed  into  angry  frowns 
and  fierce  passions.  But  as  every  act  and  thought 
leaves  its  footprint  upon  the  mind,  and  all  its  faculties 
are  developed  and  strengthened  by  exercise ;  it  fol- 
lows, that  whether  a  higher  or  lower  class  of  faculties 
are  to  be  developed,  depends  upon  the  education. 

How  frequently  is  it  that  when  the  child  has  com- 
mitted some  little  mistake  or  transgression,  that  the 
mother  indulges  in  a  violent  tirade  of  angry  invective 
and  abuse,  or  resorts  immediately  to  corporal  pun- 
ishment, which  only  induces  a  spirit  of  hatred  and 
revenge,  and  thus  the  very  soul  of  the  little  erring 
innocent  is  torn  by  the  surges  of  the  fiercest  passions 
of  its  nature,  and  which  will  make  an  impression 
there,  which  will  break  forth  in  acts  of  violence  and 
madness  in  all  after  life.  This  is  downright  murder 
of  the  diviner  qualities  of  human  nature.  How  much 
better  would  the  mother  have  discharged  her  duty, 
if,  instead  of  displaying  her  own  angry  passions,  and 
arousing  those  of  her  child,  she  had,  in  a  spirit  of 
kindness  and  affection,  explained  to  the  little  innocent 
errer  the  reason  why  the  act  was  wrong,  and  por- 
trayed in  a  simple  and  attractive  manner,  the  ugliness 
of  vice,  and  the  loveliness  of  virtue,  and  in  this  way 
awakened  in  the  mind  a  sincere  desire  to  do  good, 
and  thus  her  mother's  influence  would  have  kindled 
a  blaze  of  love  upon  the  shrine  of  that  little  heart, 
which  would  have  enlisted  in  the  practice  of  virtue, 
all  the  noblest  attributes  of  human  nature. 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS.  75 

In  the  first  case,  only  the  fierce  passion  of  hatped 
and  revenge  would  have  been  aroused  into  action,  in 
the  second,  only  those  of  love  and  affection  ;  and  in- 
stead of  angry  words  and  spiteful  acts,  the  little  prof- 
fered lips  would  have  silently  asked  the  kiss  of  for- 
giveness ;  and  when  we  consider  that  each  of  these 
thoughts  and  passions  makes  its  impression  upon  the 
youthful  mind,  and  develops  those  faculties  which  are 
to  control  the  future  man,  what  startling  importance 
does  the  mother's  actions  assume?  Although  it  is 
the  mother's  duty  to  avoid  arousing  angry  passions 
in  the  mind  of  the  child  with  all  possible  care,  yet  it 
is  no  less  her  important  duty  to  maintain  an  uncom- 
promising parental  authority.  Granting  unrestrained 
indulgence  is  not  the  proper  way  of  acting  with  kind- 
ness and  affection  toward  the  child.  Indeed,  this  is 
failing  entirely  to  perform  every  duty  of  a  mother. 
But  resorting  to  corporal  punishment  is  the  extreme 
remedy ;  indeed  when  there  are  no  other  means  of 
inducing  the  practice  of  virtue,  and  of  fixing  its  prin- 
ciples in  the  mind,  the  case  is  quite  hopeless.  The 
rod  is  not  an  essential  implement  in  developing  the 
noblest  faculties  of  the  human  mind,  love  is  the  only 
incentive  to  sincere  virtuous  action.  Solomon  wrote 
under  the  old  dispensation. 

But  let  it  not  be  inferred  from  the  above  reflec- 
tions that  all  minds  are  equally  endowed  at  birth, 
and  that  if  men  be  educated  in  the  same  manner 
they  will  be  of  equal  intellectual  capacities.  No- 
thing is  more  variant  than  the  faculties  of  the  human 
mind,  not  even  the  features  of  the  human  counte- 
nance. But  all  men  of  sound  minds  are  endowed 
with  the  same  mental  faculties,  but  the  difference  in 
different  minds  consists  in  the  different  degrees  of 
strength  in  which  these  faculties  exist.  For  in- 
stance, one  person  has  stronger  moral  faculties,  and 


76.  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

an  other  stronger  animal  faculties,  and  hence  there 
will  be  a  material  difference  in  the  conduct  of  these 
two  persons,  and  hence  arises  all  the  variety  of  hu- 
man conduct.  But  it  is  the  nature  of  these  facul- 
ties that  they  are  developed  and  strengthened  by 
exercise,  and  by  this  means  only ;  and  hence  it  is 
obvious  that  any  class  of  faculties  may  be  restrained, 
or  cultivated  and  strengthened  at  pleasure.  Hence, 
by  correctly  understanding  the  nature  of  the  mind, 
the  degree  of  strength  of  its  different  faculties  may 
be  definitely  ascertained,  and  where  an  ill-balanced 
mind  is  to  be  developed  into  a  properly  balanced 
one,  it  may  be  done  by  observing  the  laws  of  nature, 
and  restraining  those  faculties  which  are  already  too 
strong,  and  cultivating  those  which  are  deficient. 
For  instance,  if  the  animal  faculties  predominate  over 
the  moral  and  intellectual,  the  animal  faculties  should 
be  anxiously  restrained,  and  the  moral  and  intel- 
lectual faculties  properly  developed  by  careful  culti- 
vation. Hence,  it  is  obvious  that,  although  a  mind 
may  be  endowed  with  very  unfavorable  propensities 
in  youth,  yet  they  may  be,  in  a  great  measure,  over- 
come, and  the  mind  formed  into  a  moral  shape,  by 
the  proper  course  of  education ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  no  difference  how  noble  the  natural  endow- 
ments of  a  mind  may  be,  they  may  be  perverted  by 
false  education.  It  may  be  observed  that  minds 
which  are  naturally  endowed  with  predominant  im- 
moral propensities,  are  so  endowed  as  the  result  of 
violated  natural  laws,  and  these  violations  may  be 
avoided,  and  the  predominant  endowments  of  all  in- 
fant minds  become  naturally  moral  by  the  proper 
appreciation  and  observance  of  the  laws  of  nature. 
We  have  now  sufficiently  explained  the  principles 
of  the  mind  for  the  purposes  of  the  present  essay, 
but  its  vital  importance  will  require  a  frequent  re- 


WOMAN'S  EIGHTS.  77 

currence  to  the  subject  in  the  succeeding  essays. 
These  principles  being  truej  they  form  the  basis  of 
the  most  important  duties  which  woman  is  required 
to  discharge.  How  seriously,  how  earnestly  should 
she  investigate  them !  They  are  themselves  the 
unyielding  laws  of  nature,  to  which  every  human 
power  must  necessarily  yield.  She  is  the  great 
architect  who  shapes  the  destinies  of  mankind. 
Nature  furnishes  her  material  in  the  innocent  and 
untutored  mind,  and  of  its  pliant  faculties  she  is 
required  to  build  the  future  man.  In  every  word, 
in  every  look,  in  every  act  of  her  life  in  regard  to 
the  child,  she  is  shaping  and  forming  the  materials 
which  are  to  constitute  the  human  edifice,  which  is 
to  buffet  with  the  surges  of  time,  and  yet  endure 
when  time  shall  be  no  more.  The  laws  of  nature 
are  the  rules  by  which  she  is  required  to  work.  If 
she  is  faithful  to  these  rules  the  edifice  will  be  a 
glorious  and  a  useful  one,  if  she  neglect  or  violate 
them  her  work  will  only  be  a  human  wreck,  the  hab- 
itation of  prowling  vice  and  misery,  and  whose  utter 
deformity  will  appear  still  more  startling  in  the  light 
of  eternity.  May  God  sustain  and  direct  her  in  the 
discharge  of  her  fearful  duties. 

But  the  duties  of  woman  are  not  confined  to  the 
development  of  the  youthful  mind.  There  is  no 
period  in  human  existence  in  which,  acting  in  her 
proper  sphere,  she  does  not  set  enthroned  in  her 
kingdom  of  love,  exerting  a  powerful  and  essential 
influence  over  human  affairs.  From  the  cradle  to 
the  grave,  she  is  the  guardian  watcher,  casting  a 
gleam  of  hope  and  light  into  the  darkest  hour  of 
adversity  and  misfortune,  and,  by  the  loveliness  and 
gentleness  of  her  nature,  soothing  the  keenest  ago- 
nies, suffering,  and  affliction.  Let  enemies  curse 
and  accuse,  let  friends  prove  unfaithful,  let  the  world 


78  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

frown  and  hate,  yet  the  true  woman  clings  with  a 
heavenly  devotion  to  the  object  of  her  love.  In  the 
youth  and  the  mature  age  of  man,  the  genial  glow 
of  her  affectionate  soul  casts  a  ray  of  sunshine  along 
the  path  of  life,  and  each  succeeding  stroke  of  ad- 
versity only  rivets  more  strongly  the  enduring  bands 
of  her  love,  and  her  faithfulness  and  devotion  only 
end  with  death  to  begin  with  eternity.  May  God 
grant  that  she  shall  no  more  listen  to  the  whisper- 
ings of  the  evil  tempter,  but  that  she  may  retain  the 
integrity  of  her  nature,  and  faithfully  discharge  the 
duties  of  her  heavenly  mission. 


ESSAY  II. 


THE   UNDUE  INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH. 

OF  all  the  vices  and  follies,  which  are  at  present 
blighting  the  noblest  feelings  of  human  nature,  none 
posess  such  potent  energies  for  the  accomplishment 
of  evil,  as  the  crushing  power  with  which  modern 
civilization  has  invested  the  possession  of  wealth. 
It  is  the  controlling  influence  of  the  age.  It  has  well 
nigh  vanquished  every  opposing  interest ;  absorbed 
every  affection  of  the  human  heart ;  and  established 
itself  as  the  universal  standard,  by  which  all  human 
worth  is  to  be  estimated.  Its  conquest  is  complete, 
it  reigns  supreme,  and  all  the  best  interests  of  human- 
ity, and  all  the  higher  motives  of  human  nature,  are 
its  abject  subjects,  which  only  have  the  privilege  of 
humbly  presenting  their  petitions,  and  abiding  the 
decision  of  this,  supreme  ruler  of  the  human  heart. 

"Gold,  yellow,  glittering,  precious  gold! 
This  much  of  this,  will  make  black,  white;  foul,  fair; 
Wrong,  right;  base,  noble;  old,  young;  coward,  valiant; 
Ha  you  gods :  why  this  ?  What  this,  you  gods?  Why  this 
Will  lug  your  priests  and  servants  from  your  sides. 
Pluck  stout  men's  pillows  from  below  their  heads : 
This  yellow  slave 

Will  knit  and  break  religions;  bless  the  accursed; 
Make  the  hoar  leprosy  adored ;  place  thieves, 
And  give  them  title,  knee,  and  approbation, 
With  senators  on  the  bench.  SHAKSPEARE. 

Gold,  with  the  unlimited  power  with  which  modern 

(79) 


80  MODERN  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

society  has  invested  it,  is  the  most  heartless  tyrant 
that  ever  oppressed  the  human  race  ;  a  tyrant  devoid 
of  all  the  promptings  of  mercy ;  he  is  not  urged  by 
the  motives  of  kindness,  nor  acknowledges  the  bind- 
ing force  of  the  laws  of  human  sympathy,  but  the 
only  test  which  he  applies  to  all  his  operations  is, 
will  it  yield  dollars  and  cents.  When  the  inordinate 
love  of  wealth  has  taken  possession  of  the  mind, 
every  other  consideration  is  discarded  with  a  cold 
heartlessness,  which  would  seem  beyond  the  reach  of 
a  rational  being  endowed  with  all  the  divine  faculties 
of  the  human  soul,  and  the  devotee  freely  sacrifices 
at  the  polluted  shrine  of  his  merciless  deity,  his  own 
happiness  and  that  of  his  fellow-beings,  and  with 
unfeeling  recklessness  will  open  up  the  fountains  of 
human  suffering,  from  which  can  flow  to  others  only 
misery  and  distress,  but  to  him  only  the  coveted 
gold. 

What  of  the  sacred  rights  of  others,  what  of 
the  remonstrances  of  that  inward  monitor  whose 
"  small  still  voice"  rebukes  him,  and  what  of  those 
reciprocal  duties  which  the  welfare  of  the  human 
race  demand  of  each  and  every  member  of  it  ? 
the  laws  of  man  permit  him  to  act  thus,  and  so 
he  defies  the  laws  of  God,  disregards  the  claims 
of  humanity,  violates  the  promptings  of  his  higher 
nature,  and  becomes,  not  a  rational  being,  but 
merely  a  machine  for  making  money.  Such  a  per- 
son is  a  machine  impelled  by  all  the  debasing  pas- 
sions of  human  nature,  but  not  regulated  by  the  dic- 
tates of  its  higher  motives.  Denying  himself  of  all 
the  rational  enjoyments  of  life,  voluntarily  torturing 
himself  with  physical  pains  and  sufferings,  and 
plunging  his  soul  into  an  untimely  torment  upon 
earth  to  grasp  gold  for  the  mere  love  of  gold ;  to 
hoard  it,  not  for  the  purpose  of  enjoying  it  himself, 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  81 

but  to  prevent  others  from  enjoying  it,  and  to  gratify 
the  sordid  and  debasing  passion  of  avarice.  We  have 
thousands  of  such  machines  in  active  operation  in 
our  midst,  and  the  spirit  of  the  age  has  a  direct 
tendency  to  debase  the  immortal  faculties  of  the 
mind,  and  to  transform  the  human  race  into  money- 
making  machines,  and  man  is  to  perform  no  nobler 
part  in  the  grand  scheme  of  creation,  than  to  act  as 
a  kind  of  a  human  coffer  in  which  to  lock  up  gold. 

That  this  is  contrary  to  the  design  of  man's  crea- 
tion, that  the  God-like  faculties  of  his  mind  point 
him  to  a  higher  destiny,  and  that  the  exalted  mo- 
tives and  passions  of  his  nature,  qualify  him  to  act 
a  nobler  part  in  the  scheme  of  being,  no  one  will 
deny.  It  will  be  the  object  of  this  essay  to  demon- 
strate that  this  state  of  society  does  prevail,  that  it 
is  the  parent  of  many  of  the  vices  and  follies  of  the 
age,  and  that  it  is  poisoning  the  very  fountains  of 
public  and  private  virtue  and  morality. 

But  this  state  of  society  does  not  result  from  the 
avaricious  or  miserly  disposition  of  the  people,  but  it 
results  from  the  overwhelming  power  and  influence, 
which  society  itself  has  bestowed  upon  wealth ;  there- 
fore these  evils  do  not  necessarily  result  from  any 
ineradicable  frailty  in  man,  but  rather  from  the 
falseness  of  the  present  constitution  of  society.  A 
person's  importance  or  position  in  modern  society, 
being  determined  by  the  length  of  his  purse,  it  ne- 
cessarily becomes  the  chief  object  of  life  to  lengthen 
that  purse,  and  hence  it  becomes  the  only  effort  of 
man  to  obtain  the  exclusive  possession  of  more  of  the 
things  of  this  world  than  are  really  necessary  to  con- 
tribute to  the  natural  and  legitimate  comforts  and 
enjoyments  of  life,  and  thus  the  necessaries  of  human 
existence,  which  the  Creator  evidently  designed  for 
the  sustenance  of  all  his  human  creatures,  become 


82  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

accumulated  in  the  hands  of  the  wealthy,  while  many 
of  the  unfortunate  are  deprived  of  many  of  life'"s 
most  essential  comforts. 

But  here  the  question  will  arise,  what  are  the 
legitimate  or  virtuous  comforts  and  enjoyments  of 
life?  In  the  present  age  it  is  almost  the  universal 
opinion  that  the  pleasures  and  enjoyments  of  life 
can  be  derived  only  from  the  luxuries  and  pomp 
of  wealth;  and  hence,  universal  man  is  engaged  in 
a  most  desperate  effort  to  obtain  wealth,  by  means 
fair  or  foul,  and  consequently  he  makes  every  other 
interest  subservient  to  this  great  cardinal  object  of 
human  existence;  insomuch  that  modern  humanity 
positively  refuses  to  accept  comfort  and  enjoyment 
upon  any  other  terms.  Man,  therefore,  voluntarily 
makes  himself  miserable  until  he  obtains  wealth,  and 
then  wealth  is  very  certain  to  make  him  thoroughly 
miserable  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  So  the 
world  goes.  It  is  true,  that  in  the  present  state 
of  public  opinion,  most  of  the  supposed  pleasures 
and  enjoyments  of  life  are  to  be  derived  only  from 
wealth.  But  we  never  will  admit  such  to  be  either 
natural  or  legitimate.  The  social  condition  of  a 
people  who  sustain  such  a  public  opinion,  is  far  from 
being  healthy.  The  cause  of  it  is  simply  this  :  Such 
a  public  opinion  estimates  only  the  value  of  the 
money,  while  it  has  no  rule  by  which  to  estimate  the 
value  of  the  man.  The  only  way  in  which  a  person's 
respectability  can  be  ascertained  in  modern  society, 
is  by  counting  his  money.  The  consequence  is,  that 
pl;iin,  honest  virtue  and  morality,  which  count 
nothing  in  dollars  and  cents,  are  set  down  as  per- 
fectly worthless ;  and,  therefore,  are  not  sought  by 
persons  who  wish  to  be  respectable,  but  the  black- 
hearted villain,  who  has  lied,  cheated,  robbed,  and 
outraged  every  principle  of  right  and  justice,  and 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  83 

thus  accumulated  wealth,  which  almost  smells  of  the 
blood  of  suffering  humanity,  from  whom  most  of  it 
has  been  wrongly  exacted,  receives  the  smiles  and 
flattery  of  a  false  and  perverted  society. 

While  such  is  the  condition  of  society,  the  wonder 
is,  not  that  there  are  so  much  crime,  suffering,  and 
misery  in  the  world,  but  that  any  genuine  virtue  and 
morality  are  permitted  to  retain  a  foothold  upon  an 
earth  so  desecrated.  Public  opinion  urges  the  citi- 
zen to  acquire  money  by  any  means  that  he  can,  so 
that  it  be  not  actually  criminal  in  the  eye  of  the 
penal  law,  and  assigns  him  a  position  in  society 
which  corresponds  precisely  with  his  pile  of  money. 
And  his  position  is  elevated  as  his  pile  of  money 
raises,  or  lowered  as  it  falls,  and  he  is  kicked  en- 
tirely out  of  respectable  society  if  he  happens  to 
lose  it  all ;  while  the  plain,  honest  man  engaged  in 
the  unprofitable  practice  of  virtue,  and,  as  a  clear 
conscience  is  bad  stock  in  trade,  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  he  accumulated  a  larger  capital  of  vir- 
tue and  morality  than  of  money  and  merchandise, 
and  the  consequence  is,  that  fashionable  society, 
having  no  rule  by  which  to  estimate  such  "  stocks," 
refuses  him  a  position  in  what  is  termed  "  good 
society." 

Now,  such  a  state  of  society  is  fundamentally  and 
radically  vicious,  and  yet  no  one  can  deny  that  the 
passport  which  entitles  a  person  to  enter  the  higher 
circles  of  society  must  be  written  upon  gold,  and 
public  opinion,  when  it  inspects  the  document,  asks 
no  questions  as  to  how  this  gold  was  gotten.  This 
state  of  society  results  from  this,  that  it  offers  a 
most  extravagant  premium  upon  rascality,  while 
sterling  virtue  and  integrity  are  at  a  ruinous  dis- 
count. Where  is  the  inducement  to  practice  virtue 
and  morality,  while  money  is  the  only  basis  upon 


84  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

which  a  respectable  position  in  society  can  be  sus- 
tained? The  practice  of  virtue  prevents  a  person 
from  joining  in  the  general  grab-game  for  money, 
and  according  to  modern  civilization  a  man  can  not 
be  respectable  without  money.  Why,  while  a  person 
is  honestly  engaged  in  the  practice  of  these  old- 
fashioned  qualities,  these  modern  men  of  respecta- 
bility will  cheat  him  out  of  his  very  bread ;  and 
hence,  he  is  forced  to  turn  rascal  in  self-defense,  and 
commence  the  practice  of  virtue  upon  the  modern 
and  improved  plan  of  sharp  trading  and  aristocratic 
gambling.  Correct  principles  teach  us  that  a  good 
character  is  formed  by  the  practice  of  true  virtue 
and  morality;  modern  society  teaches  us  that  it  is 
made  of  "  gold." 

Now,  as  society  gives  precedence  to  those  who 
have  the  most  money,  and  arranges  its  members 
according  to  the  length  of  their  purses,  who  will  be 
encouraged  to  discharge  those  sacred  duties  which 
every  man  owes  to  his  fellow-man,  and  seek  to  de- 
velop the  more  lovely  qualities  of  his  nature,  while 
such  a  course  of  life  actually  retards  his  progress 
to  social  position  and  influence  ?  Thus  modern  so- 
ciety really  discourages  the  practice  of  genuine  vir- 
tue. Virtue  will  be  readily  acknowledged  to  be  all 
very  well,  and  all  speak  of  it  in  terms  of  highest 
admiration,  but  how  often  are  persons  received  into 
aristocratic  society,  or  what  is  falsely  termed  our 
best  society,  merely  because  they  are  virtuous  and 
honest  persons,  or  how  often  are  wealthy  rascals 
excluded  from  such  society,  provided  they  have  es- 
caped the  penalties  of  the  criminal  law?  But  if  the 
law  does  happen  to  overtake  the  man  of  wealth,  he 
is  discarded,  not  on  account  of  his  criminality  or 
dishonesty,  but  because  he  was  such  a  fool  as  to  be 
caught  in  it,  for  there  are  persons  who  occupy  the 


UNDUE  INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.     85 

highest  positions  in  society  who  are  publicly  known 
to  violate,  every  day,  the  most  fundamental  principles 
of  right  and  justice,  and  if  his  money-making  trans- 
actions were  submitted  to  the  test  of  those  principles 
which  should  govern  the  acts  and  intercourse  of 
humanity,  he  could  not  appear  in  any  other  light 
than  that  of  a  human  fiend. 

But  there  is  not  much  danger  of  the  law,  where 
there  is  plenty  of  money.  A  heavy  purse  thrown 
into  the  scale  of  justice  soon  destroys  its  equili- 
brium. It  really  seems  as  though  modern  laws  were 
made  to  punish  poor  men  for  their  misdeeds,  and  not 
men  of  wealth,  and  also  to  facilitate  the  money- 
grabbing  operations  of  the  rich  man,  and  to  enable 
him  more  effectually  to  deprive  the  poor  man  of  his 
just  rights.  The  rich  man  may  crush  the  poor  man, 
and  rob  him  of  all  the  means  of  the  comfortable  en- 
joyment of  life,  because  he  has  not  the  pecuniary 
ability  to  set  the  expensive  machinery  of  justice  in 
motion.  He  has  no  money,  and,  therefore,  accord- 
ing to  modern  justice,  he  has  no  rights,  and  he  may 
suffer  and  die  for  the  want  of  the  smallest  part  of 
that  superfluity  in  which  the  wealthy  around  him 
are  surfeiting,  and  can  not  possibly  use  or  destroy, 
but  withhold  from  him  with  a  heartlessness  and  self- 
ishness that  might  well  make  the  devil  blush  with 
shame. 

The  whole  system  of  our  education  has  a  tendency 
to  teach  the  importance  of  this  one  object.  The 
first  thing  that  the  prattling  infant  is  taught,  is  the 
love  of  money.  Almost  the  entire  education,  from 
infancy  to  manhood,  is  only  an  exposition  of  the 
principles  of  money-getting ;  and  life,  from  manhood 
to  the  grave,  is  exclusively  occupied  in  the  practice 
of  those  principles.  If  the  child  is  taught  science^ 
it  is  not  for  the  love  of  knowledge,  but  because  it 


86  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

may  be  profitably  employed  in  the  acquisition  of 
wealth.  If  the  pious  mother  teaches  it  the  sublime 
doctrines  and  principles  of  religion,  it  is  generally 
in  subordination  to  the  great  cardinal  object  of  life, 
the  acquisition  of  wealth.  In  short,  all  species  of 
knowledge  that  can  not  be  profitably  employed  in 
the  acquisition  of  wealth,  is  regarded  as  useless, 
and  hence  the  student  generally  pursues  his  studies 
no  farther  than  suits  this  sordid  purpose.  If  he 
studies  law,  it  is  merely  to  enable  him  to  obtain  the 
fees  of  his  clients,  if  he  studies  philosophy  it  is  be- 
cause he  thinks  it  will  teach  him  the  shortest  road 
to  wealth ;  and  even  if  he  studies  theology,  it  is  too 
often  only  to  escape  the  more  laborious  modes  of 
making  money. 

While  the  whole  system  of  education,  which  de- 
velopes  the  human  mind,  and  impresses  its  own  fea- 
tures and  principles  upon  it,  is  thus  only  the  em- 
bodiment of  the  grossest  venality,  how  can  it  be 
expected  to  be  otherwise,  than  that  the  people  should 
run  mad  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  and  sacrifice  to  its 
acquisition  all  those  noble  principles  which  adorn  and 
elevate  humanity  ?  It  is  well  that  the  inborn  princi- 
ples of  virtue  are  so  deeply  laid  in  the  human  soul. 
While  the  pernicious  influences  of  a  false  education, 
and  of  a  still  more  false  public  sentiment,  are  beset- 
ting these  principles  on  every  side,  and  refusing 
them  their  proper  social  position,  and  elevating  their 
antagonistic  principles  to  the  highest  positions  in 
society,  and,  while  public  sentiment  is  pandering  to 
the  basest  and  most  selfish  passions  of  human  nature, 
and  refuses  to  acknowledge  the  lovely  and  sterling 
beauties  of  true  moral  character,  it  is  encouraging 
to  the  lovers  of  humanity  to  know  that  virtue  still 
sustains  the  contest,  that  it  is  still  throwing  up  its 
fortifications  in  the  stronghold  of  the  human  heart; 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE   OF   WEALTH.  87 

and  that,  although  the  assailing  vices  make  frequent 
breaches  in  the  wall,  yet  appealing  to  the  purest 
sympathies  of  the  human  soul,  and  relying  upon  the 
God  of  nature,  who  protects  its  cause,  true  virtue 
returns  valiantly  to  the  contest,  armed  with  the 
weapons  of  right  and  duty.  It  is  pleasing  to  re- 
flect that,  although  the  controlling  influences  of  the 
age  so  much  discourage  the  practice  of  true  virtue, 
yet  it  holds  a  check  upon  human  conduct,  and 
there  are  yet  those  who  love  it,  and  practice  it  for 
itself. 

Yet  the  prospect  is  dark  and  gloomy.  The  cause 
of  virtue  is  hanging  in  dubious  balance.  She  ia 
contending  against  fearful  odds.  Even  much  of  the 
ostensible  virtue  which  is  displayed  before  the  public 
gaze  with  glaring  parade,  only  conceals  unsuspected 
vice,  the  more  dangerous  because  it  is  invisible.  It 
is  still  necessary  to  keep  up  the  appearance  of  vir- 
tue. All  acknowledge  that  it  is  right  and  proper, 
and  all  make  high  pretensions  to  its  practice.  It  is 
impossible  to  more  unpardonably  insult  the  man  who 
is  daily  engaged  in  the  practice  of  vice  and  dishon- 
esty than  to  tell  him  of  it.  The  profession  of  vir- 
tue is  used  as  a  convenient  cloak  to  hide  the  blackest 
acts  of  vice  ;  and,  while  the  heartless  knave  most 
acts  the  devil,  he  most  talks  the  saint.  Oh,  could 
we  lift  the  vail  which  hides  the  human  heart,  and 
behold  the  black  designs  which  are  too  often  work- 
ing there,  and  maturing  into  acts  of  vice  and  dis- 
honesty, and  around  which  the  false  tongue  has 
thrown  the  attractive  beauties  of  virtue,  to  lure  on 
the  unsuspecting  victim,  we  might  almost  despair  of 
the  cause  of  human  virtue.  Thus  virtue  is  most 
outraged  while  it  is  most  flattered. 

How  often  are  we  deceived  by  these  false  lights, 
these  dazzling  appearance's  of  virtue,  which  have  no 


88  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

home  in  the  heart,  but  are  only  the  meteoric  illu- 
sions which  dance  upon  the  falsest  tongue ;  until  we 
are  almost  ready  to  conclude  that  human  nature  itself 
is  inherently  vicious,  and  that  true  virtue  has  no  ex- 
istence, except  in  the  imaginations  of  moralists  and 
philosophers. 

But  the  cruellest  of  all  the  stabs  at  virtue  is,  where 
the  base  hypocrite  conceals  himself  in  the  cloak  of 
religion,  and  folding  himself  in  its  ample  folds,  with 
nasal  cant  and  high  pretensions,  he  perpetrates  his 
misdeeds ;  and  when  the  vail  is  torn  from  him,  and 
his  true  character  displayed,  it  leaves  a  stain  upon 
the  sacred  cause,  and  shakes  our  confidence  in  the 
permanency  of  human  virtue.  Thus  all  acknowledge 
the  necessity  and  goodness  of  virtue,  all  profess  to 
practice  it,  and  where  they  are  not  in  possession  of 
the  genuine  article,  they  attempt  to  counterfeit  it. 
But  why  do  persons  attempt  to  keep  up  the  appear- 
ance of  virtue,  while  in  reality  they  are  practicing 
vice  and  dishonesty  ?  Merely  because  it  serves  as  a 
kind  of  basis,  upon  which  to  rest  their  money-grab- 
bing operations.  And  while  the  genuine  article  is 
very  troublesome,  the  counterfeit  answers  an  excel- 
lent purpose  in  the  way  of  dressing  up  acts  which 
would  not  appear  very  well  were  they  left  naked. 
It  is  used  as  a  kind  of  lever  with  which  to  pry  out 
dollars  and  cents,  a  mere  auxiliary  in  money-making ; 
for  if  many  of  our  esteemed  citizens  were  to  permit 
their  acts  to  appear  in  their  real  light,  many  vicious 
acts  would  be  found  dressed  in  virtue's  garb.  But 
this  is  easily  avoided.  They  carefully  conceal  the 
real  nature  of  their  acts,  make  a  parade  of  ostensible 
virtue,  (honest  persons  are  deceived  by  the  appear- 
ance,) and  they  quietly  victimize  them  again  and 
again,  and  become  more  respectable  every  time  they 
repeat  the  operation. 


UNDUE    INFLUENCE   OF   WEALTH.  89 

But  while  all  acknowledge  the  necessity  and  pro- 
priety of  virtue,  what  real  and  efficient  encourage- 
ment is  extended  to  it  by  public  sentiment,  what 
protecting  guard  is  thrown  around  it,  and  where  is 
its  practice  properly  rewarded,  by  making  it  the  only 
means  of  reaching  the  highest  position  in  society  ? 
Is  humble  virtue,  or  wealthy-pampered  vice  most 
respectable  in  modern  society?  If  we  are  to  take 
preaching  and  professions  as  the  exponents  of  pub- 
lic sentiment,  the  reign  of  vice  and  immorality  is 
quite  at  an  end,  and  there  is  scarcely  a  dishonest 
person  in  the  world.  But  alas,  when  we  turn  from 
the  deceitful  tongue  to  the  unvarnished  acts  of  man, 
how  painfully  are  we  disappointed.  It  almost  seems 
as  though  all  were  preaching  virtue  and  practicing 
vice.  It  appears  as  if  more  or  less  vice  and  selfish- 
ness enter  into  almost  every  human  act,  and  while 
the  sincerely  virtuous  man  is  earnestly  striving  to 
walk  in  the  path  of  moral  rectitude,  he  is  constantly 
beset  by  a  thousand  glittering  temptations,  which 
urge  him  to  turn  but  slightly  from  his  course,  to  pluck 
the  enticing  but  poisonous  flowers  of  vice.  Vicious 
selfishness,  and  an  entire  devotion  to  the  accumulation 
of  money,  offer  him  friends  and  respectability ;  will 
enable  him  to  associate  in  the  best  society,  and  enjoy 
all  the  luxuries  of  wealth,  while  humble  virtue  can 
only  offer  him  peace  with  himself,  his  fellow-man, 
and  his  God.  How  strong  are  the  temptations,  and 
how  few  there  are  who  can  withstand  the  evil  influ- 
ences which  beset  every  grade  of  society. 

By  swerving  slightly  from  virtue,  many  oppor- 
tunities of  obtaining  money  are  placed  within  his 
reach,  which  he  could  not  reach  from  the  "  strait 
and  narrow  way."  And  as  he  can  acquire  position 
and  respectability  only  by  the  possession  of  wealth, 
he  is  almost  irresistibly  forced  by  the  falseness  of 

o 


90  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

public  sentiment,  to  turn  from  the  path  of  virtue. 
He  yields  hut  slightly  at  first,  and  with  many  misgiv- 
ings, and  is  frequently  lashed  back  by  his  wounded 
conscience ;  but  with  each  succeeding  indulgence  he 
deviates  farther  from  the  path,  and  blunts  the  edge 
of  conscience,  until,  at  last,  he  is  lost  in  the  flood  of 
vice.  It  is  the  fewest  persons  whose  principles  of 
virtue  are  so  firmly  fixed,  as  to  withstand  the  terrible 
assaults  of  this  false  sentiment. 

All  are  not  hurled  into  the  vortex  of  vice,  but 
nearly  all  yield  more  or  less  to  its  temptations. 
Why  is  all  this  ?  Simply  because  public  sentiment 
acknowledges  wealth  as  the  only  basis  of  position  and 
respectability.  The  mass  of  the  people  can  gain  in- 
fluence, or  reach  the  higher  grades  of  society  in  no 
other  way  except  by  the  possession  of  wealth,  and 
hence  we  find  them  sacrificing  every  other  interest, 
and  making  the  acquisition  of  wealth  the  great  object 
of  life.  So  long  as  wealth  is  made  the  source  of 
standing  and  respectability  in  society,  and  virtue  is 
regarded  as  of  subservient  importance,  and  wealth 
can  be  best  obtained  by  the  practice  of  dishonest 
principles,  wealth  must  remain  omnipotent,  and  virtue 
powerless.  The  most  substantial  pleasures  of  virtue 
are  remote,  the  transient  pleasures  of  vice  are  imme- 
diate. There  is  nothing  so  gratifying  to  the  vanity 
of  human  nature,  as  to  be  placed  in  a  position  in 
society  above  the  ordinary  condition  of  men.  Human- 
ity is  so  blind  that  it  will  voluntarily  forego  the  pros- 
pect of  heaven,  and  incur  the  frowns  of  hell  to  enjoy 
a  little  "  brief  authority  "  upon  earth ;  and  when  that 
authority  can  only  be  obtained  by  the  possession  of 
wealth,  it  disregards  all  nobler  motives,  and  reckless- 
ly loosens  itself  from  all  its  heavenly  moorings,  and 
rushes  in  wild  pursuit  of  the  earthly  phantom,  which 
alone  can  feed  its  insatiate  desire. 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  91 

What  does  perverted  humanity,  when  thus  blinded 
by  a  debasing  passion,  care  for  virtue  or  morality? 
Its  object  can  be  attained  only  by  the  acquisition  of 
wealth;  virtue  and  morality  rebuke  the  course  of  life 
which  this  requires,  and  therefore  they  are  at  uncom- 
promising war.  A  small  amount  of  sordid  gold  will 
weigh  more  in  the  scale  of  fashionable  respectability 
than  all  the  humble  unmoneyed  virtue  in  the  world. 
Wealth  invariably  confers  position  and  authority; 
virtue,  without  wealth,  can  not  possibly  do  it.  Such 
are  the  forces  of  the  contending  parties.  Who  can 
doubt  the  result  of  such  a  contest  ?  Ah,  the  great 
battle  has  been  raging  for  ages,  and  the  mourning 
of  distressed  widows  and  orphans,  and  the  groans  of 
helpless  sufferers,  which  are  continually  rising  from 
the  earth,  and  reverberating  around  the  throne  of 
Omnipotence,  and  pleading,  in  piteous  tones,  the  cause 
of  outraged  virtue,  while  crime  rests  not,  day  nor 
night ;  and  vice,  emboldened  by  its  success,  is  reap- 
ing rich  harvests  from  all  human  transactions,  and 
even  enters  the  Christian  sanctuaries,  and  there 
breathes -its  foul  breath  upon  the  very  altar  of  God: 
all  these  proclaim  the  triumph  of  the  victor. 

But  can  this  state  of  things  be  remedied?  Are 
not  suffering,  and  misery,  and  vice,  the  necessary 
results,  and  therefore  inseparable  from  the  very  in- 
firmities of  human  nature  ?  It  is  perhaps  true  that 
on  account  of  the  fallible  nature  of  man,  human 
misery  and  vice  can  not  be  entirely  prevented ;  but 
it  is  also  true  that  the  amount  of  vice  and  misery  ex- 
isting in  the  world,  depends  almost  entirely  upon  the 
moral  and  intellectual  condition  of  man.  If  his  de- 
basing passions  are  given  full  sway,  unchecked  by 
the  proper  development  of  his  higher  sentiments, 
the  prevalence  of  vice  and  crime  is  inevitable ;  but 
if  these  passions  are  controlled  by  the  moral  and 


92  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

religious  sentiments  of  the  mind,  the  practice  of  virtue 
among  the  mass  of  the  people,  will  result  as  a  neces- 
sary consequence.  These  propensities  and  senti- 
ments are  developed  by  the  system  of  education  to 
which  the  mind  is  submitted.  The  inevitable  result 
is,  that  if  that  system  of  education  is  mercenary  in 
its  tendencies,  if  it  develops  the  selfish  or  animal 
propensities,  instead  of  the  moral  and  intellectual 
sentiments,  it  degrades  instead  of  elevates  mankind. 

But  public  sentiment  depends  upon  those  faculties 
of  the  public  mind  which  are  most  active,  and  those 
faculties  are  most  active  which  are  most  exercised  or 
cultivated ;  therefore,  the  system  of  public  education 
forms  the  public  sentiment.  We  do  not  mean  mere 
school-room  education,  but  the  education  of  life. 
Now,  public  sentiment  regulates  the  thoughts  and 
acts  of  men.  Whatever  is  indorsed  by  public  sen- 
timent, is  very  generally  received  as  the  law  of 
private  conduct.  Man  is  essentially  an  imitative 
creature,  and  he  pursues  a  certain  course  of  con- 
duct, not  always  because  he  is  convinced  that  it  is 
right,  but  because  others  do  so,  and  it  is  the  general 
custom  of  the  country.  Hence  each  distinct  nation 
of  people  has  distinct  manners  and  customs,  and  con- 
duct which  is  regarded  as  altogether  right  by  the 
public  sentiment  of  one  people,  is  frequently  thought 
to  be  very  wrong  by  that  of  another ;  and  in  every 
community  each  individual  member  must  conform  to 
the  requirements  of  public  sentiment,  or  he  is  in  a 
great  measure  deprived  of  the  enjoyments  of  inter- 
course with  his  fellow-beings.  Whatever  public  sen- 
timent says  is  right  he  must  do,  or  be  considered  a, 
wrong-doer. 

Hence  it  follows  conclusively,  that  that  to  which 
public  sentiment  attaches  the  most  importance  will 
be  the  great  object  to  be  gained  by  the  mass  of  the 


UNDUE    INFLUENCE   OF  WEALTH.  93 

people,  and  every  other  motive  and  pursuit  will  be 
made  subservient  to  the  attainment  of  this  one 
object;  and,  consequently,  if  public  sentiment  at- 
taches more  importance  to  the  possession  of  wealth 
than  to  the  practice  of  virtue,  the  latter  will  be  sac- 
rificed to  the  attainment  of  the  former;  and  this  will 
inevitably  continue  to  be  so,  just  so  long  as  men 
become  more  respectable  in  society,  and  gain  higher 
position  by  the  possession  of  wealth  than  by  the 
practice  of  virtue. 

But  can  this  be  prevented  ?  Is  it  not  one  of  the 
necessary  conditions  of  civilized  society  that  money 
shall  exercise  this  controlling  power?  It  can  be 
prevented  by  effecting  a  radical  revolution  in  public 
sentiment,  and  this  can  be  produced  by  changing  the 
fundamental  teachings  of  the  system  of  public  in- 
struction. As  soon  as  public  sentiment  is  taught  to 
regard  virtue  and  morality  as  the  only  source  of 
respectability  and  position  in  society,  as  soon  as 
wealth  is  thrown  out  of  the  estimate  of  personal  and 
social  worth,  then  its  possession  will  become  the 
means  of  enjoyment,  and  not  the  sole  object  of  life ; 
the  servant  of  man,  and  not  his  tyrant;  and  reformed 
public  sentiment  will  attach  more  importance  to  the 
practice  of  virtue  than  the  possession  of  wealth,  and 
consequently  virtue  will  become  the  chief  object  of 
attainment  among  men. 

We  therefore  assert,  that  the  undue  influence  which 
wealth  is  at  present  exerting,  results  from  a  perverted 
public  sentiment,  and  that  this  false  principle  may 
be  eradicated  by  a  proper  system  of  education ;  a 
system  which  will  inculcate  the  vital  importance  of 
the  practice  of  virtue,  and  assign  to  it  its  proper 
social  rewards,  and  then  man  will  become  convinced 
of  the  utter  baseness  and  the  pernicious  effects  which 
inevitably  result  from  making  the  accumulation  of 


94  MODERN    FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

wealth  the  exclusive  object  of  life.     This  position 
•will  be  fully  sustained  in  the  sequel  of  tins  essay. 


But  it  may  be  asserted  that  this  controlling  influ- 
ence of  wealth  is  the  motive  power,  which  is  im- 
pelling the  car  of  civilization  through  the  unbroken 
forests  and  uncultivated  portions  of  the  earth ;  that 
it  is  unfurling  the  banners  of  progress  upon  every 
hill  side,  and  in  every  valley ;  that  it  causes  the  un- 
fruitful, barren,  and  boundless  wastes  to  bring  forth 
abundant  harvests ;  that  it  whitens  every  sea  with 
the  sails  of  commerce,  and  that  every  billow  heaves 
upon  its  crest  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of  life, 
which  are  produced  by  its  energies. 

That  the  power  of  wealth  is  an  effective  agent  in 
developing  the  resources  of  a  country,  when  the  ac- 
cumulation of  wealth  is  regarded  as  the  cardinal 
object  of  human  existence,  and  this  accumulation 
can  be  best  effected  by  developing  those  resources, 
can  not  be  denied.  But  is  this  the  only  means,  or  is 
it  the  best  means,  by  which  those  resources  can  be 
developed?  Can  not  the  industrial  and  commercial 
interests  of  a  country  be  developed  without  entailing 
upon  its  inhabitants  all  the  interminable  woes  and 
miseries,  which  are  the  inseparable  concomitants  of 
this  omnipotent  power  of  wealth  ?  Can  not  the  car  of 
civilization  be  pushed  forward  by  any  other  agency, 
except  one  which  strikes  a  deadly  stab  at  the  vital 
parts  of  human  virtue,  and  has  a  tendency  to  destroy 
all  the  ennobling  emotions  and  sentiments  of  our 
nature  ?  These  are  questions  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance. 

If  all  the  benefits  and  blessings  of  human  progress 
are  to  be  filtered  through,  and  contaminated  by  the 
most  debasing  passions  and  propensities  of  human 


UNDUE    INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  95 

nature,  then,  indeed,  is  the  cause  of  humanity  hope- 
less. But  He  who  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
and  the  fullness  thereof,  has  provided  a  way  by  which 
good  may  be  accomplished,  otherwise  than  through 
the  agency  of  evil.  He  has  implanted  in  the  human 
system,  faculties  and  motives,  which  only  need  the 
fostering  care  of  a  proper  system  of  education,  to 
awaken  them  into  active  energy,  and  to  enable  the 
higher  and  nobler  sentiments  of  our  nature,  instead 
of  its  perverted  propensities,  to  carry  the  cause  of 
progress  and  civilization  triumphantly  forward. 

But  let  it  not  be  supposed  that  the  attainment  of 
a  true  morality  would  require  the  abolition  of  money. 
Some  standard  medium  to  regulate  the  value,  and  to 
facilitate  the  interchange  of  the  necessities  of  life, 
is  essential  to  the  very  existence  of  civilized  society. 
Money  is  not  inherently  evil,  but  is  only  the  "root 
of  all  evil,"  and  it  is  a  "  root "  which  requires  culti- 
vation, or  it  would  produce  no  evil  consequences. 
Money,  therefore,  should  not  be  abolished  from  soci- 
ety, but  its  power  should  be  properly  held  in  check, 
and  it  should  not  be  permitted  to  usurp  the  absolute 
control  of  human  action.  It  has  an  indispensable 
part  to  perform  in  the  essential  plan  of  civilization, 
but  its  accumulation  should  not  be  the  only,  nor 
the  principal  object  of  cultivated  society.  Civiliza- 
tion certainly  is  not  instituted  merely  to  facilitate 
the  accumulation  of  money,  but  money  is  instituted 
to  promote  the  interests  of  true  civilization,  but  it 
must  be  confessed  that  modern  civilization  has  been 
prostituted  to  the  base  purposes  of  a  mere  money- 
making  scheme. 

An  honest  effort  to  obtain  money  for  the  purpose 
of  gratifying  the  legitimate  desires  of  our  nature,  or 
for  the  purpose  of  contributing  to  the  natural  enjoy- 
ments and  comforts  of  life,  is  not  avarice.  Toil  and 


96  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

labor  are  the  inevitable  laws  of  our  nature,  and  the 
necessary  results  of  our  terrestrial  state  of  exist- 
ence, and  that  we  must  be  industriously  engaged  in 
the  prosecution  of  some  work  which  will  be  useful  to 
ourselves,  as  the  only  basis  upon  which  substantial 
virtue  can  securely  rest.  Our  mental  and  physical 
organizations  are  formed  for  action,  and  while  a  pro- 
perly conducted  life  of  action  brings  peace  and  sat- 
isfaction to  the  mind,  it  develops  and  strengthens 
all  the  faculties  and  powers  of  the  mind  and  body, 
and  we  move  in  harmonious  unison  with  all  the  laws 
of  our  nature,  and  the  journey  of  life  meanders  amid 
the  pleasant  groves  of  contentment,  to  which  we  can 
be  conducted  only  by  the  faithful  discharge  of  duty, 
and  the  sweetest  earthly  pleasures  soothe  us  into  the 
calmest  and  purest  enjoyments. 

But,  alas,  for  him  who  squanders  his  precious  time 
in  slothful  inaction,  while  the  energies  of  his  nature 
demand  exercise,  which,  not  being  gratified  in  vir- 
tuous action,  seek  gratification  in  vicious  action, 
until  he  soon  drinks  the  dregs  of  misery ;  and  thus 
those  means  which  his  beneficent  Creator  has  offered 
to  him  as  the  source  of  his  purest  enjoyments,  he 
voluntarily  converts  into  the  source  of  his  misery 
and  ruin.  Hence,  virtuous  effort  is  an  essential  con- 
dition of  human  happiness. 

But  is  there  no  other  motive  which  can  urge  man 
to  action,  except  the  base  and  sordid  love  of  gold  ? 
Is  this  the  only  spring  which  can  move  the  human 
machinery?  Has  the  Author  of  our  nature  required 
no  other  duties  at  our  hands,  except  that  our  lives 
shall  be  spent  in  acquiring  useless  and  corrupting 
wealth ;  and  can  any  rational  being  suppose  that  he 
is  faithfully  discharging  all  the  high  duties  which  his 
Creator  has  enjoined  upon  him,  when  all  his  thoughts 
and  energies  are  concentrated  upon  this  one  object, 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE   OF  WEALTH.  97 

and  when  he  sacrifices  to  its  attainment  all  the  prin- 
ciples of  true  virtue,  and  all  the  interests  of  hu- 
manity? He  who  believes  in  a  final  reckoning,  and 
thus  disregards  all  the  duties  which  he  owes  to  God 
and  man,  certainly  acts  with  the  most  reckless  in- 
consistency. With  all  the  charms  of  virtue,  and  the 
gratitude  of  humanity,  with  eternal  rewards  admin- 
istered by  Heaven's  unerring  justice,  as  incentives 
to  virtuous  action,  man,  refusing  all  these,  seals 
the  eye  of  reason,  and  yielding  to  a  debasing  pas- 
sion, rushes  on  in  the  headlong  pursuit  of  peace- 
destroying,  trouble-breeding,  sin-provoking  wealth. 

In  establishing  a  higher  and  purer  standard  of 
morality,  it  would,  therefore,  be  no  part  of  its  object 
to  check  the  activity  of  man,  but  only  to  divert  its 
present  course,  to  turn  it  from  the  exclusive  pursuit 
of  wealth,  and  direct  its  energies  to  the  promotion  of 
the  best  interests  of  humanity.  To  accomplish  this, 
it  is  the  first  duty  of  every  person  to  devote  his  at- 
tention and  energies,  in  a  virtuous  manner,  to  the  pro- 
curement of  that  amount  of  wealth,  which  is  neces- 
sary to  contribute  to  every  natural  and  legitimate 
comfort  and  enjoyment  of  life.  Further  than  that 
in  this  direction,  and  for  the  sole  purpose  of  amass- 
ing wealth,  it  is  sin  against  God  and  man  to  go. 
All  excess  beyond  this  deprives  others  of  those 
necessaries  of  life,  for  the  want  of  which  they  are 
Buffering,  and  only  adds  unnecessary  superfluity  to 
former  adequate  wealth,  and  brings  in  its  train  all 
those  troubles  and  vexations,  which  are  the  insepa- 
rable companions  of  excessive  wealth. 

The  man  who  devotes  his  life  exclusively  to  the 
accumulation  of  wealth,  frequently  obtains  posses- 
sion of  a  sufficient  amount  of  property  to  maintain 
comfortably  a  thousand  persons,  while  there  are  a 
thousand  persons  around  him  who  are  suffering  for 
9 


98  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

the  want  of  it,  and  he  is  miserable  because  he  has 
got  it,  and  they  are  miserable  because  they  have  not 
got  it;  whereas,  if  the  spirit  of  true  virtue  and 
morality  prevailed,  and  man  was  in  pursuit  of  his 
true  happiness  instead  of  wealth,  and  each  one  had 
a  sufficient  amount  of  this  wealth  to  satisfy  the 
wants  of  nature,  none  would  suffer  want,  and  all 
would  be  happy. 

But,  it  may  be  said  that  this  morality  is  too  ex- 
alted and  disinterested  for  human  nature,  and  that 
the  love  of  money  is  the  only  power  which  can  keep 
the  great  human  machinery  in  motion,  and  conse- 
quently if  this  power  be  removed,  man  would  sink 
down  into  listless  inaction  and  indolence ;  and,  with- 
out an  active  motive  to  urge  him  on,  the  great  ves- 
sel of  human  civilization  would  cease  to  move,  and 
rapidly  go  into  a  state  of  dilapidation  and  wreck. 
We  will  not  admit  that  man  is  inherently  so  debased, 
that  the  jingle  of  dollars  and  cents  is  the  only  music, 
of  his  soul,  but  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  undue 
influence  of  wealth  has  almost  reduced  him  to  that 
condition ;  and,  until  there  is  a  feeling  of  true  and 
substantial  morality  founded  upon  the  proper  devel- 
opment of  the  moral  sentiments  of  man,  and  the 
trashy,  pretended  morality,  that  rises  like  an  ignis 
fatuus  from  vicious  and  debased  minds,  and  glitters 
with  dazzling  splendor  in  all  the  higher  circles  of 
society,  be  swept  away  by  the  reviving  breezes  of 
virtue,  gold  will  continue  to  be  the  god  of  civilized 
society. 

The  Christian  may  continue  to  kneel  before  the 
altar  of  God,  but  as  long  as  society  regards  one 
man  as  more  respectable  than  another,  merely  be- 
cause he  has  got  more  money,  he  will  be  strongly 
tempted  to  sell  his  religion  for  money ;  and,  until 
there  is  some  slight  conformity  in  the  profession  and 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE   OF  WEALTH.  99 

practice  of  Christians  in  this  respect,  the  accumula- 
tion of  wealth  will  continue  to  be  the  motive  power 
of  human  action.  But,  thank  God,  this  is  not  nec- 
essarily so.  It  is  only  the  monstrous  offspring  of 
the  debasing  love  of  wealth  in  unholy  and  unnatural 
marriage  with  virtue  and  religion ;  and,  this  being 
in  direct  violation  of  every  principle  of  justice  and 
righteousness,  we  will  apply  to  the  supreme  court  of 
heaven,  and,  appealing  to  the  moral  sentiments  of 
man,  we  will  petition  for  a  divorce.  Then  will  true, 
virtue  and  religion  stand  forth  before  man.  clothed 
in  their  heavenly  garbs  of  purity  and  beauty,  no 
longer  contaminated  by  an  unholy  alliance  with  a, 
mean  and  sordid  passion,  and  regenerated  man  will 
mount  in  the  scale  of  being,  and.  virtue  will  b$ 
the  polar  star  which  shall  guide  the  great  ship  of 
humanity,  while  it  is  buffeting  with  the  waves  of 
time,  and  religion  Avill  be  the  bright  beacon  which 
shall  guide  it  safely  into  the  harbors  of  eternity. 

The  destruction  of  this  undue  influence  of  wealth 
would  not  retard  the  substantial  progress  of  many 
on  the  contrary,  it  would  give  it  a  new  impetus ;  and, 
bring  in  force  incentives  to  virtuous  action,  which 
now  lie  dormant  in  the  human  breast,  and  which, 
when  properly  developed  and  directed,  awaken  all 
the  most  exalted  and  active  emotions  and  principles 
of  human  nature.  Man  must  be  aroused  to  virtuous 
activity,  and,  instead  of  sacrificing  the  interests  of 
humanity  to  the  love  of  wealth,  he  must  be  induced 
to  sacrifice  the  love  of  wealth  to  the  interests  of 
humanity.  This  can  be  done  only  by  inspiring  a 
sincere  love  for  virtue  itself,  and  by  making  it  the 
only  source  of  position  and  respectability  in  society, 
and  by  demonstrating  to  man  the  utter  futility  of 
the  prevailing  idea,  that  the  exclusive  pursuit  of. 
wealth  can  lead  to  happiness,  and  by  displaying  be? 


100  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

fore  him  the  substantial  pleasures  which  reward  the 
practice  of  virtue,  and  the  bitter  penalties  which 
punish  the  practice  of  vice. 

The  tendency  of  the  age  is  to  induce  man,  after 
he  has  accumulated  a  competency  of  wealth,  to  be- 
lieve that  he  has  discharged  every  duty  which  is 
required  of  him  in  this  world,  and  he  either  retires 
from  the  busy  strife  and  contention  which  agitate 
society  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  and  sinks  into  health- 
destroying,  soul-tormenting,  vice-provoking  inaction ; 
or  else,  being  once  engulfed  in  the  vortex  of  avarice, 
he  continues  to  pursue  the  phantom  with  redoubled 
energy,  thus  increasing  his  wealth  and  his  miseries, 
while  his  misdirected  activity  only  adds  to  the 
wrongs  and  oppressions  of  suffering  humanity. 

"  Wealth  heaped  on  wealth,  nor  truth  nor  safety  buys, 
The  dangers  gather  as  the  treasures  rise." 

The  principles  of  virtue  teach  man  that  his  duties 
on  this  side  of  eternity  are  never  discharged,  as  long 
as  he  can  do  a  good  act ;  and,  although  he  may  have 
accumulated  but  few  treasures  of  this  world,  and 
laid  up  many  treasures  in  heaven,  yet  his  task  is 
never  finished  until  he  is  called  home  to  rest  from 
his  earthly  labors,  and  enjoy  his  heavenly  wealth. 

"  Virtue 

Stands  like  the  sun,  and  all  which  rolls  around 
Drinks  life,  and  light,  and  glory  from  her  aspect." 

Every  human  effort,  which  has  for  its  object  the 
promotion  of  human  happiness,  is  the  legitimate  object 
of  virtuous  activity.  The  incentives  to  such  action 
are  as  widespread  as  the  human  race,  and  as  numer- 
ous as  are  human  sufferers,  and  its  pleasures  and 
consolations  are  the  sweetest  that  are  within  all  the 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  101 

scope  of  human  happiness.  What,  then,  is  to  pre- 
vent it  from  becoming  the  mainspring  of  human  ac- 
tion, and  the  motive  power  which  is  to  push  forward 
the  car  of  civilization,  clothed  in  the  pure  white 
robes  of  virtue,  and  its  object  the  attainment  of 
universal  human  happiness,  instead  of  the  accumula- 
tion of  sordid  gold?  Nothing  but  a  basely  false 
public  sentiment. 

The  crushing  power  with  which  wealth  is  invested 
in  the  present  age,  may  perhaps  have  advanced  the 
cause  of  civilization,  but  this  is  only  a  collateral 
result.  This  is  no  part  of  its  real  object.  If  the 
efforts  to  accumulate  wealth  develop  the  resources 
of  a  country,  it  does  it  merely  because  such  develop- 
ment yields  dollars  and  cents.  The  only  question 
•which  is  asked  is,  "  will  it  pay  ?"  And  if  it  becomes 
necessary  to  develop  the  resources  of  a  country  in 
order  to  make  it  pay,  then  such  development  is 
made  with  a  strict  regard  to  the  rules  of  percentage, 
and,  consequently,  money  being  the  only  object,  were 
it  possible,  after  the  improvements  are  made,  to  blot 
them  out  of  existence,  it  would  freely  be  done,  pro- 
vided such  an  operation  would  yield  dollars. 

Now  persons  who  think  that  this  is  the  only  or  the 
best  means  by  which  the  cause  of  human  progress  can 
be  pushed  forward,  certainly  make  a  very  low  estimate 
of  the  moral  qualities  of  their  own  species.  If  the 
sails  of  commerce  are  unfurled  to  the  ocean  breeze, 
it  is  not  because  it  conduces  to  human  happiness,  but 
because  it  panders  to  a  base  and  perverted  passion ; 
a  passion  such,  that,  if  it  were  left  to  its  own  sordid 
meanness,  and  the  cause  of  human  progress  de- 
pended upon  the  success  of  a  single  effort,  no  earthly 
nor  heavenly  power  could  induce  it  to  make  the 
slightest  disinterested  movement  toward  its  accom- 
plishment. Hence,  the  undue  power  of  wealth, 


102  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

exerts  its  influence  in  favor  of  human  progress  no 
farther  than  suits  its  own  base  purposes. 

Can  not  the  cause  of  humanity  be  placed  upon  a 
more  reliable  and  substantial  basis  ?  Is  there  no  other 
resort,  but  to  surrender  it  unconditionally  into  the 
•power  of  its  greatest  enemy,  merely  because  that 
;  enemy,  in  the  gratification  of  his  own  sordid  passion, 
incidentally  promotes  a  portion  of  its  interests,  while 
the  wrongs  and  sufferings  which  he  entails  upon  it, 
are  tenfold  greater  than  the  benefits  which  he  con- 
fers? Man,  placed  in  such  a  situation,  is  converted 
into  his  own  enemy,  and  with  all  the  higher  senti- 
ments of  his  nature  undeveloped,  and  his  propensities 
-perverted,  and  all  his  energies  absorbed  in  the  grat- 
ification of  a  debasing  passion,  human  activity  only 
has  a  tendency  to  defeat  the  scheme  of  human  happi- 
ness. Human  effort  is  thus  diverted  from  its  true 
purpose,  and  the  more  active  man  is,  the  more  suf- 
fering and  oppression  he  causes  among  his  fellow- 
men. 

•  How  can  it  be  expected,  that  while  the  whole 
-human  race  is  engaged  in  a  desperate  effort  to  over- 
load themselves  with  the  cares  and  troubles  of  super- 
abundant wealth,  and  to  deprive  others  of  the  neces- 
sary means  of  comfort  and  enjoyment,  to  be  other- 
•wise  than  that  vice  and  folly,  misery  and  crime, 
.  should  be  the  necessary  results  of  human  effort  ?  And 
-so  it  will  be,  until  man  learns  to  direct  his  action  to 
the  promotion  of  his  true  interests,  the  attainment  of 
true  happiness  by  the  practice  of  virtue,  instead  of 
defeating  the  grand  design  of  human  existence,  by 
the  exclusive  pursuit  of  wealth.  Genuine  morality 
and  virtue  have  for  their  sole  objects  the  attainment 
of  human  happiness.  It  is  not  selfish,  to  look  first 
to  our  own  happiness,  but  it  is  to  be  obtained  within 
the  bounds  of  virtue,  and  at  the  same  time  contribut- 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF   WEALTH.  3.03 

ing  as  much  as  possible  to  the  happiness  of  others  ; 
but  when  this  much  is  attained  virtue  walks  forth 
from  under  its  own  vine  and  fig-tree  and  devotes  ita 
energies  to  the  alleviation  of  suffering  and  misery, 
and  to  the  promotion  of  the  happiness  of  individual 
and  universal  humanity.  Here  then  is  an  unlimited 
scope  for  virtuous  action,  the  great  vineyard  of  the 
Lord  is  open,  inviting  us  to  enter  and  labor  with 
him  in  the  advancements  of  our  own  happiness. 

As  the  promotion  of  human  happiness  is  not  the 
Incidental  result  of  virtue,  but  its  sole  object,  it  fol- 
lows that  every  purpose  which  has  a  tendency  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  humanity,  is  the  legitimate 
•object  of  virtuous  action.  Hence  the  whole  scope 
^of  human  progress  and  civilization  is  brought  within 
•its  immediate  sphere.  When  we  look  at  the  dark 
•picture  of  civilized  man,  when  that  civilization  is 
developed  by  the  controlling  power  of  wealth,  and 
behold  the  squalid  misery  and  suffering,  which  moans 
even  in  the  very  shadows  of  its  splendid  palaces,  and 
see  helpless  human  beings,  who  are  dying  for  the 
want  of  the  very  necessaries  of  life  in  the  midst  of 
wasteful  abundance,  and  vice  clothing  itself  in  the 
garb  of  virtue  and  "  going  to  and  fro  on  the  earth, 
•and  walking  up  and  down  in  it,"  and  even  raising  its 
hydra-heads  above  the  loud  professions  of  Christians ; 
'  while  the  public  sentiment  which  it  engenders,  urges 
the  citizen,  by  all  the  inducements  which  it  can  offer, 
to  devote  his  energies  exclusively  to  the  attainment 
of  an  object  which  undermines  the  very  foundation 
of  human  happiness ;  we  are  almost  ready  to  con- 
clude, that  such  a  state  of  civilization  entails  more 
curses  upon  man  than  it  confers  blessings. 

"Our  present  civilization,"  says  Channing,  "is 
characterized  and  tainted  by  a  devouring  greediness 
for  wealth ;  the  passion  for  gain  is  every  where  sap- 


104  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

ping  pure  and  generous  feelings,  and  raising  up  bitter 
foes  against  any  reform  which  may  threaten  to  turn 
aside  the  stream  of  wealth.  I  some  times  feel  as  if  a 
great  reform  were  necessary  to  break  up  our  present 
mercenary  civilization,  in  order  that  Christianity,  now 
repelled  by  the  universal  worldliness,  may  come  into 
a  nearer  contact  with  the  soul,  and  reconstruct  society 
after  its  own  pure  and  disinterested  principles."  It  is 
true,  that  civilization  has  much  elevated  the  condition 
of  man,  yet,  while  this  inordinate  love  of  wealth  has 
incidentally  aided  in  his  advancement,  virtue  has 
ever  been  the  real  handmaid  and  genuine  promoter 
of  all  substantial  human  progress.  How  much  more 
glorious  would  be  the  triumph  of  civilized  society, 
if  all  these  withering  curses  which  necessarily  result 
from  its  present  state,  could  be  removed,  and  human 
society  could  enjoy  the  blessings  of  a  true  civiliza- 
tion founded  upon  the  basis  of  true  virtue. 

What  can  be  of  more  importance  to  man  than  that 
the  basis  of  his  progress  should  rest  upon  the  noblest 
sentiments  of  his  nature,  instead  of  his  perverted 
propensities.  Certainly,  the  best  mode  of  promoting 
human  happiness  is  not  by  degrading  man.  The 
supremacy  of  his  higher  sentiments  elevates  him  in 
the  scale  of  being,  the  prevalence  of  his  lower  pro- 
pensities degrades  him,  and  inevitably  leads  to  misery 
and  suffering.  Let  sterling  virtue  and  morality  have 
control  of  the  human  mind,  and  become  the  chief  in- 
centives to  human  action,  by  receiving  the  highest 
sanctions  and  rewards  of  civilized  society,  and  it 
will  whiten  every  ocean  with  the  sails  of  commerce, 
and  bring  gladness  to  the  hearts  of  suffering  human- 
ity of  every  clime  arid  tongue,  by  the  free  interchange 
of  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  the  world ;  it  would 
transform  the  hideous  haunts  of  vice  and  crime  into 
the  pleasant  abodes  of  virtue,  it  would  change  the 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF   WEALTH.  105 

striving  and  exacting  marts  of  commerce,  where  now 
the  sole  object  is  to  obtain  wealth,  into  the  free  and 
unreserved  interchange  of  brothers,  seeking  not  to 
obtain  sordid  dollars,  but  to  promote  their  own  hap- 
piness and  that  of  others  ;  it  would  establish  institu- 
tions for  the  mental  and  moral  development  of  man, 
until  chime  answering  chime,  should  reverberate 
around  the  earth,  and  smiling  humanity  in  the  suc- 
cessful pursuit  of  true  happiness,  instead  of  sordid 
gold,  would  stand  forth  in  its  true  nobleness,  dis- 
enthralled from  the  fetters  of  wealth. 

Then,  and  not  until  then,  will  the  efforts  of  man 
cease  to  bring  misery  to  himself,  and  begin  to  promote 
his  own  welfare,  and  civilization,  dressed  in  the  robes 
of  virtue,  will  bring  happiness  to  all  her  subjects ; 
and  thus  man  will  reach  the  highest  condition  of 
being  attainable  by  human  nature.  God  speed  the 
day.  But  while  the  cause  of  virtue  seems  to  be  so 
hopelessly  lost,  and  the  power  of  wealth  seems  to  be 
able  to  withstand  any  attack  that  can  be  brought 
against  it,  how  is  this  social  reform  to  be  effected  ? 
Only  by  reconstructing  society  upon  the  basis  of 
virtue;  and  this  can  be  done  only  by  giving  the 
practice  of  virtue  its  proper  value  in  the  estimate 
of  public  and  private  worth,  by  making  it  the  only 
source  of  position  and  respectability  in  society,  and 
by  creating  a  healthy  public  sentiment,  by  engrafting 
upon  it  the  fundemental  maxim,  that  man  is  worthy 
of  regard  and  preferment,  just  in  proportion  to  the 
sterling  qualities  of  his  moral  principles.  Then  will 
wealth  cease  to  be  the  tyrant  of  man,  and  become  his 
servant,  and  instead  of  being  the  sole  object  of  life, 
it  will  be  merely  one  of  the  means  of  its  enjoyment, 
and  the  path  of  virtue,  being  the  road  to  honor  and 
position,  will  be  universally  sought,  as  the  highest  ob- 
ject of  human  attainment ;  and  thus  wealth  will  lose 


106  MODERN    FANCIES    AND   FOLLIES. 

its  undue  influence,  while  the  practice  of  virtue  will 
receive  its  proper  rewards.  But  as  long  as  society 
confers  its  greatest  favors  and  rewards  upon  the 
possession  of  wealth,  its  exclusive  pursuit  can  not 
fail  to  defeat  the  scheme  of  human  happiness,  and  to 
.  engross  the  thoughts  and  efforts  of  the  great  mass  of 
the  people. 


The  omnipotent  power  of  wealth  has  even  rendered 
mercenary  the  divine  institution  of  marriage,  and 
among  the  wealthy  class  it  is  no  longer  the  union  of 
two  hearts  in  holy  love,  consecrated  by  the  sacred 
promptings  of  purest  affection ;  but  it  is  degraded 
into  a  kind  of  a  commercial  transaction,  or  a  sort  of 
matrimonial  partnership,  which  is  formed  in  consider- 
ation of  the  amount  of  wealth  which  each  partner  can 
bring  into  the  concern ;  and,  as  a  general  thing,  this 
matrimonial  partnership  is  formed  with  as  strict  re- 
gard to  the  amount  of  the  capital  furnished,  or  to  be 
furnished  by  each  of  the  contracting  parties,  as  in 
any  commercial  partnership  whatever.  Hence  those 
who  are  wealthy  marry  those  who  are  wealthy,  thus 
adding  heap  to  heap  in  unnecessary  accumulation, 
and  if  any  person  who  is  very  wealthy,  should  marry 
an  other  who  is  not  possessed  of  this  essential  qualifi- 
cation, it  would  be  considered  as  the  hight  of  vulgarity, 
and  persons  thus  marrying  for  the  love  of  each  other, 
instead  of  their  money,  would  probably  be  paraded 
through  the  public  prints,  as  though  their  eternal 
doom  was  sealed.  How  long  has  it  been  since  the 
Dean  and  Boker  affair  ?  If  the  earth  had  stopped 
short  in  the  midst  of  her  diurnal  revolution,  and  the 
sun  had  stood  blazing  for  twenty-four  consecutive 
hours  in  the  meridian  of  mid-day,  it  would  scarcely 
have  caused  a  greater  commotion  in  the  circles  of 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  107 

fashionable  society.  What  is  the  matter  ?  Why,  two 
persons  who  loved  each  other  have  married,  and 
society  stands  aghast  at  the  awful  outrage.  Ten 
thousand  giddy  tongues  are  tattling ;  and  it  is  the 
principal  topic  at  every  tea-table  and  social  party. 
But  why  this  social  commotion  ?  Why,  a  rich  heiress 
has  married  an  honest  coachman. 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  coachman  was  unworthy 
of  the  heiress  in  any  other  respect  than  that  of  a 
•very  disrespectable  want  of  dollars.  Their  respective 
moral  qualities  are  entirely  lost  sight  of,  in  the  all- 
-important  consideration  that  the  one  was  wealthy 
:and  the  other  poor.  Now  if  some  young  lady,  whose 
-moral  qualifications  were  as  great  as  the  "property 
-qualifications  "  of  this  young  heiress,  was  sacrificed 
upon  the  hymenial  altar,  to  some  vicious,  sporting 
scoundrel,  it  would  not  have  caused  the  slightest  rip- 
ple upon  the  surface  of  fashionable  society.  Alas, 
can  not  the  attention  or  sympathies  of  modern  refined 
civilized  society  be  awakened,  except  by  the  jingle 
"of  dollars  ? 

While  such  is  the  state  of  things,  persons  are  uni- 
ted in  marriage,  not  by  the  bands  of  true  love,  but 
by  the  bands  of  gold,  or  rather  their  purses  marry, 
and  they  are  themselves  thrown  into  the  bargain. 
But  while  wealth  possesses  the  unlimited  power  with 
which  modern  society  has  invested  it,  it  is  the  easiest 
of  all  things  to  love  the  person  who  is  surrounded  by 
its  glitter,  while  it  is  almost  beyond  the  power  of 
human  nature  for  the  person  of  wealth  to  love  real 
virtue,  beauty,  and  loveliness,  with  a  true  love,  when 
they  are  unadorned  by  golden  plumage.  A  "  good 
match"  in  modern  parlance,  means  that  the  person 
who  has  made  the  "  good  match,"  has  married  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  money,  and  the  person  who  is 
-given  "to  boot"  is  quite  immaterial.  This  is  of 


108          MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

secondary  consideration,  and  of  very  little  importance, 
provided  his  faults  and  vices  have  a  golden  excuse. 
A  mother  will  gladly  place  the  happiness  of  her 
daughter  in  the  hands  of  a  person  whose  only  merit 
is  his  money ;  while,  perhaps,  his  character  has  been 
formed  amid  scenes  of  dissipation  and  infamy  ;  and 
vice  has  impressed  its  indelible  seal  upon  all  his 
principles  —  a  wealthy  loafer,  whose  shining  quali- 
ties which  so  captivate  the  fair  sex  are  vice,  fashion- 
able worthlessness,  and  gold,  a  contemptible,  cumber- 
some piece  of  human  baggage,  who  is  only  a  useless 
trouble  upon  the  journey  of  life,  and  who  is  pro- 
foundly versed  in  all  the  modes  of  squandering 
money,  but  has  an  insuperable  hatred  for  all  the 
efforts  of  industry  which  produce  it ;  thus  the  attrac- 
tive glitter  which  lured  her  to  her  ruin,  may  soon 
pass  away,  and  his  utter  worthlessness  appear  in  its 
native  deformity,  and  a  life  of  misery  and  despair  be 
hers. 

And  yet  she  would  have  rejected  with  contempt- 
uous scorn  the  proffered  hand  of  the  man  of  honest 
industry  and  virtue,  unadorned  by  the  glitter  of  golden 
plumage,  but  who  walks  forth  with  the  bold  indepen- 
dence of  conscious  merit,  and  with  the  will  and 
might  to  contend  successfully  with  the  strifes  and 
troubles  of  life,  and  as  the  ceaseless  course  of  time 
rolls  by,  it  brings  to  him,  and  all  who  depend  upon 
his  vigorous  arm,  the  elements  of  peace  and  happi- 
ness, while  the  faithful  discharge  of  all  the  duties 
which  he  owes  to  God  and  man  bring  to  him 
the  sweetest  enjoyments  of  human  existence.  How 
strangely  perverted  are  our  ideas  of  social  welfare. 
Gold  conceals  a  multitude  of  faults,  and  vice,  when 
seen  through  this  deceitful  medium,  is  invested  with 
many  illusory  beauties,  and,  like  the  serpent,  whose 
fascinating  eye  charms  the  fated  bird,  until  it  is  cap- 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  109 

tivated  by  the  attractive  glitter,  and  destroyed  by  the 
hidden  fangs. 

It  is  astonishing  how  a  large  balance  in  bank  adds 
to  the  charms  of  woman.  It  has  truly  a  magical 
power,  and  ladies  who  have  never  been  suspected  of 
possessing  any  special  attractions,  and  have  been 
excluded  from  the  circles  of  the  "best  society,"  and 
roughly  hustled  to  one  side,  in  the  eager  pursuit  of 
the  daughters  of  fortune,  let  such  but  receive  the 
favors  of  this  powerful  magician,  and  she  is  suddenly 
discovered  to  be  the  most  fascinating  and  captivating 
of  her  sex,  and  immediately  she  becomes  respectable 
and  receives  the  smiles  of  good  society,  and  has  no 
difficulty  in  entering  into  a  respectable  matrimonial 
partnership.  It  is  singular  what  a  love-provoking 
power  it  has.  When  cupid  shoots  with  a  golden 
arrow  he  inflicts  a  mortal  wound,  and  is  sure  of 
victory. 

Marriage  is  the  most  important  relation  of  life, 
and  of  all  human  acts  it  creates  duties  the  most 
difficult  to  perform,  and  the  most  important  that 
they  should  be  properly  performed,  and  it  is  followed 
by  consequences  the  most  lasting  and  dangerous, 
and  therefore  it  requires  the  most  mature  deliber- 
ations of  any  other  act  of  life.  It  is  generally  con- 
tracted in  the  most  thoughtless  and  buoyant  period 
of  life,  when  hope  and  joy  beam  forth  from  all 
human  affairs,  and  robe  them  in  the  beauteous  hues 
of  pleasure  and  enjoyment.  But,  alas !  after  the 
fatal  knot  is  tied,  and  the  stern  duties  which  it  cre- 
ates have  brushed  away  the  zephyr-like  illusions 
which  clothed  it  in  mystic  beauty,  then,  if  the  fabric 
of  life's  happiness  has  been  placed  upon  a  false  and 
treacherous  basis,  if,  instead  of  having  its  founda- 
tions laid  in  the  immutable  principles  of  nature, 
bound  together  by  the  enduring  bands  of  congen- 


110  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

iality,  it  is  founded  upon  the  unsteadfast  basis  of 
gold,  which  may  be  borne  away  by  the  fleeting  vicis- 
situdes of  time,  and  when  this  chief  inducement  to 
marriage  has  vanished,  and  the  heavy  yoke  of  it» 
duties  bear  with  tenfold  increased  weight  upon  the 
unfortunates,  then  a  life  of  misery  and  distress  is 
almost  inevitable.  >ffr.«>» 

While  wealth  is  so  apt  to  take  wings  and  fly  away, 
how  extremely  dangerous  is  it  to  intrust  life's  happi- 
ness to  its  keeping,  so  that  when  it  does  fly  away  it 
will  take  with  it  all  the  pleasures  and  enjoyments  of 
life.  How  infinitely  better  for  the  peace  and  happi- 
ness of  mankind  would  it  be,  were  sterling  virtue  and 
morality  made  the  only  basis  of  the  marriage  con^ 
tract,  for  these  never  take  wings  and  fly  away  from 
those  that  love  them,  until  with  the  disembodied  soul, 
they  take  their  final  flight  to  their  eternal  abodes  in 
heaven.  Then  would  sordid  wealth  cease  to  be  the 
guiding-star  which  leads  to  the  matrimonial  relation, 
the  magic  torch  which  lightens  up  the  passion  of  lovei 
in  the  human  breast,  the  potent  touch-stone  which 
awakens  the  slumbering  charms  of  female  beauty, 
the  dazzling  screen  which  conceals  a  multitude  of 
follies  and  vices.  Then  would  sterling  virtue  cast  its 
effulgent  rays  even  from  amid  its  abode  in  honest 
poverty,  and  spontaneous  happiness  would  spring  up 
in  the  genial  warmth  of  its  sunshine,  and  the  golden 
tyrant,  hurled  from  his  throne,  would  fall  powerless 
at  the  feet  of  virtue,  and  would  assume  its  proper 
position  in  society,  and,  instead  of  destroying,  would 
aid  in  the  promotion  of  human  happiness.  How 
sacred,  then,  would  be  the  holy  union,  and  what  a 
solemn  grandeur  would  be  thrown  around  the  matri- 
monial altar,  and,  as  the  incense  of  holy  love  would 
rise  from  it  up  to  heaven,  there  would  be  rejoicing 
among  angels  and  happiness  among  men. 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  Ill 


But  of  all  the  conquests  which  the  power  of  wealth 
has  made  in  modern  society,  none  is  more  complete 
than  that  which  it  has  achieved  over  friendship.  It 
is  astonishing  what  an  intimate  connection  there  is 
between  money  and  modern  friendship.  They  seem 
to  work  hand  in  hand,  wholly  absorbed  in  their  own 
self  importance,  and  carefully  excluding  from  their 
presence  all  those  who  are  not  respectable  according 
to  modern  notions,  as  unworthy  of  their  association. 
Thus  man,  as  "God  created  him  in  his  own  image," 
is  unworthy  to  occupy  the  higher  positions  in  modern 
society,  or  to  merit  the  friendship  of  respectable 
men,  until  he  has,  by  "  many  inventions,"  succeeded 
in  accumulating  a  greater  amount  of  the  "  root  of 
all  evil"  than  can  possibly  be  of  any  reasonable  use 
to  him.  Such  an  amount  as  is  actually  necessary  to 
contribute  to  every  comfort  and  enjoyment  of  life, 
will  not  enable  him  to  reach  that  most  enviable  posi- 
tion. "  No  admittance,"  is  virtually  written  over  the 
doors  of  the  "  best  society,"  as  to  all  such  persons, 
for  they  are  not  respectable. 

In  order  to  receive  the  smiles  and  friendship  of 
society,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  possess  a  greater 
amount  of  wealth  than  can  be  of  any  essential  ser- 
vice, and,  in  this  way,  deprive  others  of  the  enjoy- 
ments and  necessaries  of  life ;  if  you  can  succeed 
in  doing  this,  you  are  very  respectable,  and  will  have 
many  devoted  friends,  but  if  you  are  so  unfortunate 
as  to  pursue  an  upright,  honest  course,  which  is 
generally  unfavorable  to  the  schemes  of  money  get- 
ting, your  friends  will  be  alarmingly  scarce,  and  less 
assiduous  in  their  attentions.  But  if  you  are  on 
good  terms  of  friendship  with  your  own  conscience, 
you  will  scarcely  enjoy  the  friendship  of  the  "  best 


112  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

society."  Clear  consciences  are  very  much  out  of 
fashion  there,  and  they  generally  disappear  about  in 
the  same  ratio  that  wealth  amasses,  so  that  it  usu- 
ally happens,  that  they  who  have  the  greatest  wealth, 
can  not  afford  the  luxury  of  an  easy  conscience, 
•which  is  the  inseparable  companion  of  every  honest 
and  virtuous  man,  though  he  may  be  as  poor  as  Laz- 
arus. How  innumerable  are  the  trials  and  miseries 
which  the  man  of  wealth  suffers,  from  which  the  man 
of  honest  independence  is  entirely  free. 

He  is  most  independent,  who  is  freest  from  the 
tyranny  of  wealth,  and,  consequently,  the  greater  the 
amount  of  wealth  that  a  person  amasses,  he  is  there- 
by the  more  reduced  to  a  state  of  slavery.  Strange, 
that  human  nature  should  be  so  perverted,  that  it 
would  voluntarily  seek  to  rivet  the  fetters  of  slavery 
upon  itself,  and  seek  happiness  by  the  gratification 
of  those  passions,  which  unavoidably  entail  upon  it 
the  most  withering  curses.  But  wealth  is  the  great 
.dispenser  of  position  and  respectability  in  society, 
and,  hence,  the  man  of  wealth  will  always  be  sur- 
rounded by  a  throng  of  courtly  flatterers,  who  are 
seeking  to  obtain  his  favors  by  a  lavish  expense  of 
ostensible  friendship.  What  can  be  more  revolting 
to  sterling  virtue,  than  the  base  intrigues  and  cor- 
ruptions, which  are  resorted  to  to  gain  the  smiles  of 
this  heartless,  golden  tyrant.  The  blood  of  helpless 
innocence  has  been  caused  to  flow  freely  by  the  Ne- 
roes  and  Caligulas  of  mankind,  but  it  was  only  the 
violence  of  the  transient  storm,  which  soon  passed 
away,  and  man  again  became  prosperous  and  hap- 
py under  more  lenient  rulers,  and  these  oppressions 
only  affected  a  small  portion  of  mankind,  but  man, 
in  his  egregious  folly,  has  now  enthroned  a  perpet- 
ual tyrant,  whose  dominions  extend  to  the  farthest 
limits  of  civilization,  and  whose  power  is  not  BUS- 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  113 

tained  by  the  Pretorian  guards  alone,  but  the  strong 
and  the  weak,  the  great  and  the  small ;  yea,  all  the 
hosts  of  civilization  are  his  devoted  friends,  stren- 
uously engaged  in  sustaining  him  upon  his  throne. 

His  favored  friends  commit  the  greatest  outrages 
in  every  part  of  his  dominions ;  his  unsuspecting 
subjects  are  murdered  in  the  streets  and  in  their 
very  homes ;  robbery  and  dishonesty  are  boldly  resort- 
ed to  by  his  followers  ;  virtue  and  innocence  are  un- 
protected, while  vice  and  violence  receive  his  greatest 
rewards ;  the  strong  and  fortunate  deprive  the  feeble 
and  distressed  5>f  the  comforts  and  enjoyments  of 
life,  and  they  are  permitted  to  suffer  and  die  of  want, 
in  the  very  midst  of  wasting  abundance.  Oh,  what 
unmitigated  tyranny ;  the  most  oppressive  and  heart- 
less that  ever  man  was  subject  to,  yet  it  is  sus- 
tained by  all  the  civilized  world  ;  by  the  polished 
and  refined ;  by  the  learned  and  the  unlearned ;  by 
the  professors  of  religion  and  the  non-professors ;  by 
the  simple-minded  and  the  talented.  When  will  man 
cease  to  be  the  slave  of  a  degrading  passion  ;  a  pas- 
sion which  aggrandizes  itself  by  the  disregard  of  every 
motive  of  true  humanity,  and  when  will  unperverted 
reason  assert  her  sway,  and  by  hearkening  to  her 
dictates,  man  shall  realize  the  ineffable  loveliness  of 
virtue,  and  place  her  upon  her  throne  in  the  human 
heart,  as  supreme  ruler  of  all  his  passions  and  affec- 
tions ? 

Persons  of  wealth  bestow  the  favors  of  friend- 
ship with  singular  perverseness.  They  seem  to  re- 
gard the  sufferings  of  those  who  have  not  been 
successful  in  the  lottery  of  fortune,  as  of  no  conse- 
quence, and  look  upon  it  with  as  much  indifference, 
as  if  persons  who  are  not  wealthy,  are  not  sus- 
ceptible of  feeling  or  suffering ;  as  if  they  were  cre- 
ated for  the  special  purpose  of  pandering  to  the 

10 


114  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

vicious  appetites  and  passions  of  the  lords  of  wealth, 
and  then  to  be  turned  away  to  suffer  the  miseries 
of  destitution  and  starvation,  for  all  their  wealthy 
neighbors  care,  unless  they  can  be  profitably  em- 
ployed in  adding  to  their  already  surfeiting  abun- 
dance. If  the  man  of  wealth,  who  has,  at  all  times, 
the  means  in  his  power,  gives  employment  to  the 
poorer  classes,  and  thus  enables  them  to  obtain  the 
necessaries  of  life,  the  relief  of  the  poor  is  no  part 
of  his  object,  but  he  does  it  because,  by  that  means, 
he  can  add  to  his  own  wealth.  How  many  thous- 
ands are  there  in  our  cities  who.'^re  destitute  of 
almost  all  the  essential  comforts  of  life,  and  how 
many  thousands  are  there  who  have  a  useless  accu- 
mulation of  them  ?  Yet,  instead  of  aiming  to  alle- 
viate the  sufferings  of  their  unfortunate  fellow-be- 
ings, which  the  fortunate  might  do,  without  abridging 
in  the  slightest  degree,  their  own  enjoyments  of  life, 
their  whole  effort  and  object  are  to  monopolize,  still 
farther,  the  means  which  sustain  human  existence, 
and  contribute  to  the  comforts  and  enjoyments  of 
life,  and  thus  to  fix,  more  permanently  and  intensely, 
useless  suffering  and  misery  upon  the  unfortunate 
portion  of  mankind. 

Modern  society  has  discovered  that  the  master- 
piece of  God's  workmanship  is  unworthy  of  consid- 
eration, until  it  has  been  decorated  with  the  gaudy 
flippery  of  wealth,  and  that  the  Creator  has  done 
his  work  in  such  a  bungling  manner,  that  the  proper 
development  of  all  the  noblest  faculties,  which  he  has 
implanted  in  man,  does  not  entitle  him  to  the  high- 
est respect  of  his  fellow-man.  We  read  that  God 
formed  man  from  the  dust  of  the  earth,  but  modern 
society  has  become  more  aristocratic,  and  makes  him 
of  gold;  and  hence,  it  considers  that  man,  created 
in  the  image  of  God,  "upright  in  righteousness  and 


UNDUE  INFLUENCE  OP   WEALTH.  115 

in  true  holiness,"  is  unworthy  of  the  respect  of  this 
modern  improvement  in  man-making,  and  so  this 
modern-improved  man  of  "  many  inventions,"  kicks 
the  old-fashioned  man,  created  in  the  image  of  God, 
out  of  the  way,  as  a  piece  of  old,  antiquated  work- 
manship, that  was  made  before  society  had  made  so 
much  progress  as  it  has  now. 

While  the  man,  who  has  been  successful  in  the 
struggle  for  wealth,  thus  disregards  the  sufferings 
and  miseries  of  those  who  have  been  unsuccessful, 
he  bestows  his  favors  and  friendship,  with  unneces- 
sary liberality,  upon  those  who  have  been  equally 
successful  in  the  worldly  struggle  with  himself,  and, 
therefore,  do  not  require  his  assistance.  The  man 
of  wealth  willingly  befriends  his  wealthy  neighbor, 
or  lends  him  assistance  to  an  extent  which  would 
relieve  the  sufferings  of  many  of  the  unfortunate 
around  him,  but  to  whom  he  denies  the  least  assist- 
ance. Thus  the  wealthy  are  bound  together  by  the 
golden  bands  of  a  mercenary  friendship,  to  aid  each 
other  in  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  and  by  sustain- 
ing its  power  they  are  united  in  a  kind  of  conspiracy 
to  deprive  the  unfortunate  of  their  just  rights,  by 
monopolizing,  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  in  the  shape 
of  excessive  wealth,  those  means  which  contribute 
to  the  comforts,  and  constitute  the  necessaries  of 
life. 

The  present  constitution  of  society  has  invested 
wealth  with  a  kind  of  attractive  affinity,  Avhich  gives 
it  a  tendency  to  accumulate  in  large  masses;  and 
hence,  he  who  has  money,  has  a  great  advantage  in 
the  struggle  for  wealth,  over  him  who  has  none,  and 
thus  he  who  has  no  real  use  for  it  is  the  person  who 
obtains  it,  while  he  whose  necessities  absolutely  re- 
quire it,  is  deprived  of  it,  and  wealth  being  only  a 
superabundant  accumulation  of  those  means,  which 


116  MODERN    FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

sustain  human  existence,  and  furnish  the  necessaries 
of  life,  one  portion  of  mankind  thus  obtains  the  pos- 
session of  more  of  these  essentials  than  they  can 
possibly  use,  while  the  other  portion  is  destitute  of 
a  sufficient  portion  to  prevent  them  from  suffering. 
But  the  course  of  wealth  can  not  be  controlled  by 
any  arbitrary  or  conventional  laws  or  limitations ; 
and,  therefore,  the  only  means  by  which  can  be 
effected  any  thing  approximating  to  an  equitable 
distribution  of  the  comforts  and  necessaries  of  life, 
or  by  which  can  be  formed  a  permanent  basis,  upon 
which  universal  human  happiness  can  securely  rest, 
is  by  depriving  wealth  of  the  crushing  power  with 
which  modern  society  has  invested  it,  and  thus  di- 
recting the  action  of  man  from  its  unnecessary  ac- 
cumulation, and  directing  it  to  the  proper  develop- 
ment of  the  nobler  faculties  and  motives  of  human 
nature. 

The  unsoundness  of  society  is  not  more  obviously 
displayed  in  any  of  its  phases  than  it  is  in  the  con- 
trolling influence  which  the  possession  of  wealth  is 
enabled  to  exert.  Elevated  far  above  the  necessity 
of  honest  effort,  the  person  of  wealth  looks  down 
with  supercilious  contempt  upon  all  those  who  are 
engaged  in  the  disgraceful  pursuits  of  honest  indus- 
try, and  regards  them  as  his  lawful  prey,  and,  armed 
with  the  power  of  wealth  and  the  skill  of  experience, 
he  generally  succeeds  in  emptying  into  his  own  coffers 
the  increase  of  wealth  which  is  produced  by  their 
efforts;  and  for  this  society  respects  him.  The  more 
his  stores  increase  beyond  the  amount  which  is  neces- 
sary for  his  happiness,  the  louder  the  clatter,  and  the 
more  deferential  the  respect  which  he  receives  from 
those  against  whom  his  conduct  through  life  is  a  con- 
tinual outrage.  The  more  he  wrongs  humanity  the 
higher  he  raises  in  its  estimation ;  and  thus  he  revels 


UNDUE    INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  117 

in  the  smiles  and  friendship  of  society,  while  all  are 
ready  to  confer  upon  him  any  favor  that  he  may 
desire,  and  all  are  at  his  disposal  to  aid  him  in  his 
money-making  schemes,  and  the  host  of  friends  by 
whom  he  is  surrounded  is  positively  oppressive. 

But,  look  out.  He  is  navigating  dangerous  waters. 
The  vicissitudes  of  a  single  day  might  sweep  from 
under  him  the  foundation  of  all  his  importance.  A 
single  unsuccessful  commercial  transaction  might  sink 
the  basis  of  modern  respectability,  and  this  would 
cause  a  greater  stampede  among  his  friends,  or 
rather,  the  friends  of  his  money,  than  would  the 
explosion  of  a  high-pressure  steamboat  boiler.  In  a 
single  day,  and  without  any  act  upon  his  part  but 
such  as  he  had  performed  almost  every  day  of  his 
life,  from  occupying  a  high  position  in  society,  and 
enjoying  its  smiles  and  its  friendship,  he  is  reduced 
to  honest  poverty,  but  he  is  no  longer  respectable, 
and  receives  the  frowns  and  scorns  of  society,  in- 
stead of  its  favors  and  smiles ;  and  those  who  but 
yesterday  were  loudest  in  their  protestations  of 
friendship,  are  perhaps  the  first  to  desert  him  in  his 
humiliation  and  misfortune,  and  add  to  their  treachery 
by  heaping  upon  him  slander  and  detraction.  And 
now  the  princely  halls  of  wealth,  and  the  glittering 
circles  of  fashionable  society  in  which  he  so  lately 
shone  forth  so  brightly,  are  closed  against  him,  and 
nearly  all  that  host  of  friends  who  had  basked  and 
fawned  in  the  sunshine  of  his  prosperity,  now,  when 
he  is  tottering  upon  the  very  brink  of  pecuniary  ruin, 
and  most  needs  their  friendly  aid,  not  only  forsake 
him,  but  give  him  a  push  in  his  downward  course. 

He  is  unceremoniously  kicked  out  of  the  "  best 
society."  Why?  Not  because  he  is  a  less  worthy 
man.  Ten  chances  to  one,  if  he  is  not  more  worthy 
of  public  confidence  and  respect.  He  has  been 


118  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

taught  an  unpleasant,  but  instructive  lesson,  in  the 
mutability  of  human  affairs.  Sad  experience  has 
swept  away  the  golden  glitter  which  prevented  him 
from  appreciating  the  miseries  and  woes  of  the  un- 
favored portion  of  humanity,  it  has  opened  up  the 
fountains  of  feeling  in  his  heart,  and  he  sincerely 
sympathizes  with  the  unnecessary  sufferings  of  man ; 
he  was  before  like  a  sponge,  not  producing,  but 
absorbing  and  retaining  in  useless  accumulation  the 
very  substance  which  sustains  human  existence.  He 
is  now  willing  to  enter  the  arena  of  usefulness,  and 
manfully  lend  a  helping  hand  in  promoting  the  real 
interests  of  society.  But  these  are  not  the  qualities 
which  render  a  person  worthy  of  respect  in  modern 
society.  Why  is  it  that  those  who  used  to  smile  and 
bow  so  pleasantly,  now  treat  him  with  a  neglect  so 
cold  and  selfish  that  it  chills  the  manly  heart? 
Simply  and  only  because  he  has  no  wealth. 

Alas,  poor  man,  he  has  lost  all  that  society  loved 
him  for ;  he  no  longer  holds  in  his  hand  that  flaming 
torch  which  cast  such  a  brilliant  light  around  him, 
in  which  sycophants  might  gambol  and  twitter;  he 
has  lost  that  powerful  magnet  which  attracts  the 
mercenary  friendship  of  the  age,  and,  true  to  its 
nature,  it  deserts  him  as  soon  as  the  attracting 
power  is  removed.  The  most  lovely  character  of 
unspotted  virtue  and  integrity,  unaided  by  the  re- 
accumulation  of  wealth,  can  not  restore  him  to  his 
former  position  and  influence  in  society ;  nothing 
can  do  that  but  devoted,  untiring  worship,  at  the 
altar  of  society's  god,  sordid,  crushing  gold.  No 
fabulous  deity  of  ancient  superstition  was  so  exact- 
ing with  its  devotees  as  this  moloch  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  It  requires  of  its  votaries  that  they  shall 
sacrifice  virtue,  peace,  happiness,  contentment,  and 
all  the  rational  comforts  and  enjoyments  of  life  at 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF   WLALTH.  119 

its  altar,  and  devote  themselves  entirely  and  ex- 
clusively to  its  service,  scarcely  taking  rest  neither 
day  nor  night,  constantly  looking  forward  to  the 
attainment  of  the  one  grand  object,  to  receive  the 
smiles  of  their  fickle  god.  True,  some  who  worship 
at  its  shrine,  and  who  love  it  exceedingly,  do  not 
worship  it  so  devotedly  as  to  fulfill  all  its  require- 
ments ;  but  this  is  only  different  degrees  of  the  same 
idolatry,  which  has  an  engrossing  tendency  to  enlist 
all  the  energies  of  civilized  man  in  its  service.  Hence 
the  Scriptures  speak  of  it  as  "  covetousness,  which 
is  idolatry." 

Such  is  the  tendency  of  the  age.  Pampered  vice 
is  reaping  the  richest  harvests  of  civilized  society, 
while  humble  virtue  is  toiling  as  its  menial  servant. 
The  greatest  benefits  of  modern  society  arc  enjoyed 
by  those  who  wrong  it  most,  while  those  whose  honest 
efforts  alone  sustain  the  social  fabric,  are  considered 
to  be  disgraced  by  these  efforts,  and  are  therefore 
excluded  from  the  circles  of  our  "best  society." 
Such  are  the  social  influences  which  pervert  the 
noblest  sentiments  of  human  nature,  which  divert 
man  from  the  successful  pursuit  of  his  true  happi- 
ness, and  directs  his  efforts  to  the  attainment  of  a 
sole  purpose,  which  so  fatally  blasts  the  fairest  hopes- 
of  humanity. 


Look  upon  life.  How  happy  is  the  dawning  of 
its  morning,  when  in  bouyant  youth,  the  fair  crea- 
tion is  robed  in  the  radiant  hues  of  joy  and  pleasure* 
How  beneficent  appear  all  the  works  of  God  as  their 
beauties  gradually  burst  upon  the  wondering  imagin- 
ation of  childhood.  The  glorious  creation  is  beam- 
ing in  lovely  smiles,  and  all  seems  to  be  made  for 
pleasure  and  happiness.  The  new-born  soul  planted 


120  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

in  earthly  soil  to  bring  forth  fruit  for  eternity,  revels 
in  the  happy  consciousness  of  its  own  innocence,  no 
anxious  care  obscures  the  bright  sunshine  of  its  joy- 
ousness,  no  perverted  passion  is  poisoning  the  pure 
waters  of  contentment  and  careless  happiness.  The 
development  of  the  powers  of  the  mind  and  the 
body  bring  forth  new  pleasures,  and,  as  the  gladden- 
ing rays  of  each  morning's  sun  invite  the  youth  to 
the  feast  of  joy  and  happiness,  which  his  Creator  has 
so  profusely  spread  out  before  him,  he  wonders  how 
it  is  possible  that  misery  and  unhappiness  can  dwell 
amid  scenes  so  joyous  and  lovely. 

He  looks  abroad  upon  external  nature  and  he 
beholds  that  its  beneficent  Author  has  made  ample 
provision  for  every  natural  human  want,  he  looks 
within  himself  and  he  finds  that  the  virtuous  efforts 
which  he  is  required  to  make,  in  order  to  enjoy  the 
bountiful  provision  of  his  Creator,  also  yield  to  him 
the  sweetest  and  calmest  enjoyments  of  life.  Thus  he 
sees  that  God  has  placed  the  goal  of  happiness  within 
the  reach  of  man,  the  road  which  leads  to  it  is  plain, 
and  with  the  smiles  of  heaven  to  urge  him  on,  and 
the  frowns  of  hell  to  deter  him  from  going  wrong, 
how  can  he  fail  of  its  enjoyment?  It  appears  as 
if  God  designed  to  clothe  vice  and  folly  in  such  hid- 
eous shapes,  and  to  dress  virtue  and  morality  in  such 
lovely  garbs,  that  no  perversion  of  the  faculties  of 
human  nature  could  induce  man  to  voruntarily  en- 
dure the  suffering  and  misery  which  punish  the 
practice  of  the  former,  rather  than  enjoy  the  happi- 
ness which  rewards  the  practice  of  the  latter.  Every 
earthly  and  heavenly  inducement  is  offered  to  urge 
him  to  pursue  the  course  of  his  true  happiness,  while 
blighting  curses  attend  every  departure  from  it. 

Has  not  God  made  man  a  free  agent ;  and  can 
he  by  any  earthly  power  be  so  misguided  as  to  vol- 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE   OP  WEALTH.  121 

untarily  accept  misery  rather  than  happiness?  Is 
he  not  a  rational  heing  ?  Is  he  not  endowed  with 
God-like  reason,  to  teach  him  what  is  right  and 
what  is  wrong?  Ah,  unsophisticated  youth,  if  such 
thoughts  naturally  present  themselves  to  thy  mind, 
thou  dreamest  not  of  the  desolating  storms  of  per- 
verted human  passions  which  sweep  through  these 
smiling  scenes.  True,  man  is  a  rational  being,  en- 
dowed with  moral  and  mental  faculties,  but  he  is  also 
an  animal,  endowed  with  animal  propensities ;  and, 
when  his  conduct  in  life  is  such  as  to  pervert  his 
higher  faculties,  and  arouse  his  animal  propensities 
into  activity,  he  is  the  most  ferocious,  heartless,  and 
unreasonable  animal  that  ever  infested  the  earth. 

God  never  instituted  a  law,  and  no  created  thing 
ever  fell  from  his  hand,  but  which  he  designed  for 
ultimate  goodness  and  happiness.  Hence,  every  nat- 
ural law  and  every  created  thing  in  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  are  designed  for  a  beneficent  purpose,  and 
misery  and  suflfering  can  not  be  the  unavoidable 
results  of  the  operations  of  natural  principles.  If 
God  has  created  any  animate  being,  and  placed 
it  in  such  a  situation  that  all  the  requirements  of 
his  laws  might  be  fulfilled,  and  yet  suffering  and 
misery  be  its  unavoidable  lot,  He  is  a  malevolent 
being.  But  man  is  so  created,  and  his  powers  and 
faculties  so  exactly  adapted  to  the  relations  and  con- 
ditions of  external  circumstances,  that  their  proper 
development,  in  accordance  with  the  natural  su- 
premacy of  the  moral  sentiments  and  the  intellect, 
would  unavoidably  lead  to  the  enjoyment  of  com- 
plete felicity  and  happiness.  And  we  now  state  it 
as  an  incontrovertible  principle,  that  did  man  comply 
with  the  conditions  which  God  has  established,  and 
upon  which  human  happiness  depends,  even  so  far 
as  the  inherent  fallibility  of  .human  nature  would 
11 


122  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

permit,  and  all  the  higher  principles  of  his  nature 
were  developed  to  the  higher  state  of  which  they  are 
capable,  misery,  vice,  and  crime  would  be  expelled 
from  the  earth,  and  the  millennial  era  would  be  fully 
commenced. 

No  human  action,  which  is  in  accordance  with  the 
natural  laws,  can  either  directly  or  indirectly  cause 
misery  or  suffering ;  and  every  human  action,  which 
is  in  violation  of  these  laws,  will  inevitably  cause 
misery  and  suffering ;  but  every  human  action  must 
either  be  in  accordance  with,  or  in  violation  of,  these 
laws ;  therefore,  all  the  misery  and  suffering  which 
exists  in  the  world,  is  caused  by  human  actions,  in 
violation  of  the  natural  laws,  and  hence  all  that 
man  has  to  do  to  arrive  at  the  most  perfect  state  of 
human  happiness,  is  to  ascertain  the  laws  of  nature, 
and  act  in  accordance  with  their  requirements.  We 
believe  that  man,  fallible  as  human  nature  is  said  to  be, 
is  endowed  with  all  the  powers  and  faculties  which 
are  necessary  to  enable  universal  man  to  enjoy 
almost  uninterrupted  happiness ;  otherwise  we  must 
charge  his  Creator  with  malignity  of  purpose.  What 
pleasing  reflections  crowd  upon  the  mind,  when  we 
contemplate  man  in  such  a  state  of  development. 
It  does  indeed  seem  chimerical  when  we  view  man 
in  his  present  condition — but  we  have  proved  that 
he  may  be  thus  happy  by  reasoning,  to  which  every 
person  must  yield,  who  believes  in  a  beneficent  Crea- 
tor. Then  will  human  life  be  a  happy  preparation  for 
eternal  existence,  and  man,  seeking  to  be  happy, 
instead  of  wealthy,  and  fully  comprehending  the 
scheme  of  his  happiness,  and  complying  with  its 
requirements,  would  no  longer  suffer  the  intermina- 
ble woes  and  miseries  which  attend  the  practice  of 
vice. 

Suffering  and  misery  are  quite  unnecessary.    Man 


UNDUE  INFLUENCE  OF    WEALTH.  123 

can  ascertain  the  conditions  of  the  natural  laws 
which  are  essential  to  his  happiness,  and  he  can  act 
in  accordance  with  them,  and  such  a  course  of  life 
will  prevent  misery  and  suffering,  and  render  man 
happy.  God  has  not  malevolently  doomed  man  to 
unavoidable  misery.  Every  pain  which  we  suffer, 
and  "  all  the  ills  which  flesh  is  heir  to,"  are  only  the 
penalties,  which  are  punishing  the  violators  of  nat- 
ural laws,  and  hence  it  is  evident  that  if  man  ceases 
to  violate  these  laws,  he  will  avoid  the  penalties. 
The  Creator  has  perfectly  adapted  the  inherent  qual- 
ities of  human  nature  to  the  conditions  of  the  laws 
which  he  has  established  for  the  government  of  man, 
and  if  we  obey  the  will  of  God  by  complying  with 
these  laws,  happiness  is  the  inevitable  reward,  but  if 
we  pervert  those  qualities,  and  thus  violate  these 
laws,  pain  and  misery  are  the  inevitable  penalties. 
Thus,  no  person  is  ever  sick  unless  some  law  of 
health  has  been  violated,  nor  does  any  person  suffer 
the  slightest  pain  without  it  is  the  effect  of  the 
violation  of  natural  laws. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  regeneration  and  develop- 
ment can  not  possibly  remove  the  inherent  fallibility 
of  human  nature.  True,  but  the  laws  which  govern 
man  as  a  natural  being,  can  be  as  definitely  ascer- 
tained as  the  laws  which  govern  him  as  a  political 
being.  If  man  devoted  as  much  effort  and  study  to 
the  expounding  of  the  natural  laws  as  he  now  does 
to  the  municipal  laws,  they  would  be  fully  as  well  un- 
derstood. If  he  had  his  judges  and  counselors,  who 
made  it  their  profession  to  investigate  and  explain  to 
him  the  laws  of  God,  as  he  has  to  explain  the  laws 
of  man,  he  would  no  more  violate  the  one  through 
ignorance  than  the  other.  Now  how  often  does  he 
ignorantly  violate  the  municipal  laws  ?  Every  person 
of  sane  mind  and  common,  intelligence,  has  a  euf- 


124  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

ficient  knowledge  of  these  laws  to  know  what  acts 
violate  them,  and  that  if  he  is  convicted  of  their 
violation  he  will  be  punished. 

Now,  if  he  could  be  convinced  that  the  natural 
laws  affect  him  as  vitally  as  do  the  municipal  laws, 
he  could  as  easily  avoid  their  violation.  But  the 
mass  of  the  people  are  not  even  aware  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  definite  and  immutable  system  of  natural 
principles,  and  regard  their  regular  operations  as 
the  inscrutable  and  mysterious  dispensation  of  Prov- 
idence, and,  consequently,  they  violate  them  igno- 
rantly,  and  then  attribute  their  punishment  to  their 
misfortune.  They  seem  to  think  that  their  human 
law-givers  have  made  an  excellent  code  of  laws,  but 
that  their  Omnipotent  Law-giver  has  made  none  at 
all,  but  governs  them  by  mere  chance ;  and,  there- 
fore, they  must  obey  the  municipal  laws,  or  they 
will  be  punished ;  but  they  may  violate  the  natural 
laws  with  perfect  impunity.  Alas !  infatuated  man, 
you  may  escape  the  penalties  of  the  municipal  laws, 
but  the  Almighty  Judge  of  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  sits  in  judgment  upon  your  acts  as  a  natural 
being,  and  your  rewards  and  punishments  are  as 
inevitable  as  He  is  Omnipotent.  The  municipal 
laws  are  administered  by  fallible  human  beings  :  the 
natural  laws  by  the.  infallible  God.  No  act  of  obe- 
dience goes  unrewarded ;  no  act  of  violation  escapes 
unpunished. 

Hence,  by  acting  in  accordance  with  the  require- 
ments of  the  natural  laws,  man  would  escape  the 
penalties  attached  to  their  violation,  and  as  these 
penalties  consist  in  the  suffering  and  misery  which 
humanity  endures,  he  would  thus  avoid  misery  and 
suffering.  But  man  would  still  be  liable  to  mistakes 
and  accidents ;  the  inevitable  results  of  his  fallible 
nature,  but  they  would  be  of  such  an  unimportant 


UNDUE    INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.          125 

character  that  they  would  cause  no  material  inter- 
ruption in  the  enjoyment  of  universal  happiness,  and 
when  his  earthly  probation  was  finished,  and  nature 
had  run  her  course,  without  suffering  the  pangs  of 
premature  decay,  he  would  calmly  and  happily  pass 
from  time  to  eternity,  to  enjoy  the  moral  treasures 
which  are  placed  to  his  credit  in  the  book  of  life. 

It  is  wrong  to  mourn  over  departed  friends  and 
relatives.  It  is  wrong  to  be  afflicted  by  any  of  the 
necessary  results  of  Omnipotent  legislation.  Al- 
though we  may  feel  as  though  the  death  of  a  dearly 
beloved  relative  has  obscured  the  last  ray  of  joy  and 
hope,  and  overwhelming  grief  has  fixed  its  poisoned 
fangs  in  the  heart,  and  is  thus  withering  all  the 
pleasures  and  enjoyments  of  life,  and  casting  a 
deeper  shade  over  all  its  glooms,  and  we  are  left 
lonely  and  disconsolate  in  this  "vale  of  tears;"  yet 
we  should  receive  sweet  consolation  from  the  posi- 
tive assurance  that  the  loved  one  has  only  exchanged 
the  transient  scenes  and  sufferings  of  time  for  the 
permanent  joys  and  pleasures  of  eternal  happiness. 
Every  person  who  believes  in  the  goodness  of  God, 
sincerely  feels  that  all  His  dispensations  are  right ; 
and  though  they  may  be  to  us  incomprehensible,  yet 
it  is  wrong  in  us  to  be  afflicted  because  the  will  of 
God  prevails.  It  is  irreligious  to  yield  to  distress 
and  affliction,  because  of  any  of  the  unavoidable  re- 
sults of  the  government  of  God.  It  is  no  indication 
of  an  unfeeling  heart,  or  a  want  of  the  genuine 
emotions  of  real  affection,  to  yield  a  willing  obedi- 
ence to  the  government  of  God.  If  one  whom  we 
dearly  loved  be  removed  from  this  world  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  immutable  laws  by  which  God  governs, 
so  let  it  be;  and  if  we  truly  loved  our  friend,  we 
should  not  be  distressed  that  he  has  exchanged 
earthly  troubles  for  heavenly  joys.  The  only 


126  MODERN    FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

cause  for  which  we  have  to  mourn,  is,  when  our- 
selves, or  those  we  love,  have  not  been  "laying  up 
treasures  in  heaven  which  are  incorruptible ;"  but 
in  accumulating  earthly  treasures  which  the  "  moth 
doth  corrupt  and  the  thief  breaks  through  and 
steals." 

But  let  us  look  after  the  youth  with  whom  we 
started  in  life.  We  fear  we  have  neglected  him  too 
long,  for  he  is  surrounded  by  many  dangerous  and 
captivating  influences,  and  we  fear  the  glittering 
phantom  which  promises  him  friends,  position,  and 
influence,  and  every  thing  which  is  enticing  to  the 
youthful  mind,  and  panders  to  the  animal  propen- 
sities which  are  so  vigorous  in  youth,  has  secured 
him  as  his  victim.  How  can  it  be  expected  that  the 
feeble  powers  of  youth  should  be  able  to  resist  such 
temptations.  He  beholds  the  whole  civilized  world 
exclusively  engaged  in  efforts  to  amass  wealth,  the 
wealthy  laboring  day  and  night,  to  add  to  their  al- 
ready excessive  accumulations,  the  poor  vainly  strug- 
gling to  secure  the  necessaries  of  life,  yet  all  coveting 
the  omnipotent  dollar,  all  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth, 
none  in  the  pursuit  of  true  happiness.  Society  offers 
him  nothing  if  he  practice  sterling  virtue,  every  thing 
if  he  amass  sordid  wealth.  There  is  scarcely  a  youth 
but  who  yields  to  the  tempter,  and  before  they  have 
arrived  at  years  of  manhood,  all  are  devoted  worship- 
ers at  the  shrine  of  the  golden  god. 

We  have  neglected  the  happy  youth  thus  long  to 
observe  the  course  of  life  into  which  he  is  directed 
by  the  will  of  God  as  expressed  in  the  laws  of  nature, 
to  notice  the  perfect  adaptation  of  his  natural  endow- 
ments to  the  condition  of  these  laws ;  and  to  point 
out  the  way  by  which  he  may  escape  pain  and  misery, 
and  enjoy  happiness.  We  will  now  look  upon  the 
course  of  life  into  which  he  is  impelled  by  a  false 


UNDUE  INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.    127 

social  system.  We  have  seen  him  in  his  youthful 
happiness.  But  time  rolls  on  his  ceaseless  course. 
With  the  fleeting  years  have  passed  away  the  joyous 
period  of  youth,  and  now  comes  the  anxious  care- 
laden  years  of  manhood.  But  why  this  change  ? 
Why  is  the  happy,  smiling,  youthful  face  changed 
into  the  discontented  care-worn  countenance,  which 
but  too  plainly  tells  a  tale  of  incessant  toil,  and  un- 
ceasing struggle?  Why  is  not  the  whole  day  of 
human  life  as  cloudless  as  its  morning?  Ah,  the 
serpent  of  modern  society  has  whispered  in  his  ear 
the  tempting  offers  of  wealth ;  and  when  he  looked 
forth  upon  society,  he  saw  that  those  who  were  sin- 
cerely striving  to  pursue  the  course  which  is  pointed 
out  to  them  as  the  road  to  happiness,  upon  the  chart 
of  the  journey  of  life  contained  in  the  system  of  na- 
ture, he  saw  these  spurned  from  the  higher  circles  of 
society,  and  submitting  to  the  wrongs  and  oppressions 
of  those  who  were  traveling  the  high  road  to  public 
favor,  and  worshiping  devotedly  at  the  shrine  of  the 
popular  idol. 

Then  he  spurned  the  offers  of  earthly  and  heavenly 
happiness,  which  his  Creator  had  made  to  him  upon 
the  easy  conditions  of  living  in  obedience  to  his  laws, 
he  forsook  his  God  to  seek  the  empty  applause  of 
society  by  gaining  gold. 


"  Gold  many  hunted,  sweat  and  bled  for  gold ; 
Walked  all  the  night,  and  labored  all  the  day, 
And  what  was  this  allurement,  dost  thou  ask  ? 
A  dust  dug  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth, 
Which  being  cast  into  the  fire,  came  out 
A  shining  thing  that  fools  admired,  and  called 
A  god,  and  in  devout  and  humble  plight 
Before  it  kneeled,  the  greater  to  the  less. 
And  on  its  altar  sacrificed  ease,  peace, 
Truth,  faith,  integrity,  good  conscience,  friends, 
Love,  charity,  benevolence,  and  all 


128  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

The  sweet  and  tender  sympathies  of  life; 

And  to  complete  the  horrid  murderous  rite, 

And  signalize  their  folly,  offered  up 

Their  souls  and  an  eternity  of  bliss, 

To  gain  them — what!  an  hour  of  dreamy  joy ; 

A  feverish  hour  that  hasted  to  be  done, 

And  ended  in  bitterness  of  woe." 

But  why  this  eager  strife  for  gold  ?  Why  these 
years  of  painful  labor  ?  These  sleepless  nights,  this 
life  of  anxious  care  and  trouble  ?  Has  God  required 
of  man  no  other  duty,  is  there  naught  else  that  is 
worthy  of  his  effort,  or  are  the  conditions  of  his 
earthly  existence  so  hard,  that  it  requires  all  his  ener- 
gies, and  every  day  and  hour  to  procure  those  means 
which  are  essential  to  the  enjoyments  of  life?  No. 
A  sufficiency  to  gratify  every  natural  want  is  no  part 
of  his  object ;  but  to  accumulate  and  hoard  an  excess, 
to  defeat  his  own  happiness  by  the  anxieties  and  per- 
plexities of  excessive  wealth,  and  that  of  others,  by 
depriving  them  of  a  sufficiency  to  satisfy  their  actual 
necessities.  Look  forth  upon  the  smiling  earth,  and 
see  how  bountifully  the  Creator  has  spread  the  tables 
of  nature.  He  has  made  ample  provision  for  all  his 
creatures,  and  only  requires  that  they  should  act  in 
harmony  with  his  laws,  and  in  fellowship  with  them- 
selves, in  order  to  enjoy  the  gratification  of  every 
rational  desire.  He  has  spread  out  in  broad  extent 
the  rich  alluvial  soil,  and  carpeted  it  with  useful  and 
delightful  vegetation.  He  has  planted  in  it  the  giants 
of  the  forests,  and  enriched  its  bowels  with  the  mine- 
rals, to  contribute  to  the  enjoyments  of  his  creatures. 
He  has  invested  it  with  the  capacities  of  production, 
and  endowed  his  creatures  with  powers  and  faculties 
which  enable  them  to  cultivate  it  with  pleasure.  He 
exerts  over  them  an  ever-watchful  care,  and  only 
requires  that  they  shall  properly  use  the  means  which 
he  has  placed  within  their  reach,  in  order  that  every 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE   OP  WEALTH.  129 

living  creature  may  enjoy  the  blessings  of  peace  and 
plenty. 

Did  man  but  properly  aim  to  do  his  duty,  and  to 
act  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  his  Creator,  hap- 
piness would  be  the  easiest  and  surest  of  human 
attainments.  The  earth  is  capable  of  abundantly 
sustaining  at  least  five  times  the  amount  of  popula- 
tion that  has  ever  yet  inhabited  it  at  any  one  time, 
and  yet  a  large  proportion  of  those  who  dwell  upon 
it  are  now  actually  suffering  of  want.  The  principal 
cause  of  this  is,  that  human  effort,  as  at  present 
directed,  has  an  immediate  tendency  to  produce 
misery  and  suffering,  instead  of  peace  and  plenty ; 
and  that  man  is  not  really  in  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness, as  the  highest  destiny  of  the  human  race,  but 
he  is  exclusively  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth, 
and  consequently  he  freely  sacrifices  the  former 
in  order  to  obtain  the  latter.  The  erroneous  idea 
that  happiness  can  be  secured  only  by  the  possession, 
of  wealth,  has  gained  the  entire  control  of  the  public 
mind;  whereas,  of  all  the  vices  and  follies  which 
have  ever  cursed  humanity,  none  have  been  more 
completely  fatal  to  the  enjoyment  of  happiness  than 
the  inordinate  desire  for  wealth,  which  is  engendered 
by  this  public  sentiment. 

Unless  this  false  idea  can  be  eradicated  from  the 
public  mind,  wide-spread  human  happiness  is  unat- 
tainable. This  inordinate  love  of  wealth,  and  the 
enjoyment  of  true  happiness,  can  not  possibly  exist 
together.  Neither  can  nourish,  except  by  the  de- 
struction of  the  other.  The  present  condition  of 
man  is  an  illustration  of  this  fact.  The  love  of 
wealth  being  the  controlling  sentiment  of  the  age, 
he  sacrifices  every  other  interest  to  its  gratification. 
He  crowds  into  overgrown  cities,  and  around  the 
marts  of  commerce,  until  the  occupations,  by  which 


130  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

wealth  is  most  ready  obtained,  are  wrought  in  excess 
of  the  demand,  and  suffering  and  destitution  ensue. 
He  neglects  the  proper  development  of  his  moral 
and  intellectual  faculties,  the  only  basis  upon  which 
permanent  happiness  can  rest ;  and,  devoting  all  his 
energies  to  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  he  thus 
unduly  develops  the  animal  propensities  of  his  na- 
ture, which  has  a  tendency  to  destroy  his  rationality, 
and,  not  satisfied  with  a  competency  to  gratify  every 
natural  want,  he  does  not  relax  his  efforts,  or  divert 
his  attention  from  the  great  object  of  his  life,  until 
his  increasing  stores  only  add  to  his  troubles,  and 
detract  from  his  enjoyments.  Thus,  while  one  por- 
tion of  the  human  race  is  surfeiting  in  the  luxuries, 
and  suffering  the  miseries  and  troubles  of  excess- 
ive wealth,  another  portion  is  depriving  themselves 
of  the  real  comforts  and  enjoyments  of  life,  so  that 
they  may  become  wealthy,  and  the  remaining  portion 
is  toiling  in  penury,  and  suffering  the  miseries  of 
almost  utter  destitution,  which  is  the  actual  condition 
of  man  at  the  present  time. 

But,  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  an  essential  law  of 
our  nature  that  some  persons  will  be  successful  in 
the  struggles  of  life,  while  others  will  be  unsuccess- 
ful, that  their  natural  endowments  will  not  enable 
them  to  contend  successfully  with  their  more  favored 
brethren ;  and,  therefore,  this  discrepancy  in  the 
condition  of  different  persons  is  unavoidable,  and 
if  charitable  aid  should  be  extended  to  those  who 
are  thus  unsuccessful,  it  would  only  be  offering  a 
reward  for  indolence  and  worthlessness.  Wretched- 
ness and  destitution  are  the  penalties  with  which 
nature  punishes  indolence,  and  AVO  would  not,  by  any 
means,  relieve  those  who  are  suffering  in  consequence 
of  the  operation  of  this  principle  of  nature,  except 
by  extending  to  them  additional  incentives  to  vir- 


UNDUE    INFLUENCE   OP  WEALTH.  131 

tuous  action.  Every  person  of  sound  mind  and 
body,  who  refuses  to  comply  with  the  law  of  nature, 
which  demands  the  proper  exercise  of  the  mental 
and  physical  endowments,  has  no  claim  upon  the  aid 
or  sympathy  of  society.  All  that  society  has  to  do 
with  such  persons  is  simply  to  leave  them  to  the 
operation  of  nature,  and  they  will  be  sufficiently 
punished. 

But  if  the  interests  of  society  require  the  dis- 
couragement of  indolence,  it  also  demands  the  en- 
couragement of  virtuous  effort.  If  those  who  are 
indolent  should  suffer,  those  who  are  willing  to  fulfill 
the  requirements  of  nature,  should  receive  their 
rewards  in  the  enjoyments  of  all  the  essential  com- 
forts and  conveniences  of  life.  By  making  ample 
provision  for  all  His  creatures,  the  Creator  has  de- 
clared His  will,  that,  by  complying  with  the  re- 
quirements of  His  established  laws,  every  natural 
want  shall  be  gratified.  But  how  many  thousands 
of  human  beings  are  this  day  toiling  and  striving, 
by  honest  effort,  to  obtain  those  necessaries,  which 
are  essential  to  the  enjoyment  of  life,  but  in  vain  ! 
How  many  thousands  are  there  who  are  surfeiting 
in  wasteful  profusion,  and  thus  add  to  the  oppres- 
sions of  the  toiling  millions,  and  themselves  con- 
tribute nothing  to  the  welfare  of  humanity.  Is  that 
the  true  system  of  society,  which  thus  directly  at- 
tempts to  thwart  the  express  will  of  God?  Is  He 
right,  or  is  society  wrong  ?  There  is  an  irreconcila- 
ble difference  between  them,  one  or  the  other  de- 
mands reform — let  man  decide  which  it  is. 

Under  the  present  constitution  of  society  the  less 
favored  portion  of  humanity,  is  required  to  perform 
all  the  labor  which  produces  the  means  of  human 
existence,  and  after  it  is  thus  produced,  it  falls  into 
the  possession  of  the  wealthy,  and  thus  the  producers 


132  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

are  deprived  of  many  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  while 
the  drones  of  the  human  hive  enjoy  the  benefits, 
which  result  from  the  labor  of  the  working  bees. 
There  is  this  difference,  however,  between  the  human 
bee  and  the  insect,  that,  while  the  latter  expels  the 
drones  from  the  hive,  the  former  elevates  them  to  the 
highest  position,  and  respects  them  most.  Which  acts 
the  most  rationally  ?  The  bee  acts  according  to  the 
laws  of  its  Creator,  man  acts  according  to  his  own 
perverted  conventionalities. 

If  God  is  just  and  reasonable,  a  greater  moral  work 
is  required  of  the  person  upon  whom  is  conferred 
superior  intellectual  and  physical  capacities.  The 
Creator  certainly  did  not  endow  particular  indivi- 
duals with  extraordinary  faculties  and  powers  of  mind 
and  body  merely  to  enable  them  to  accomplish  an 
extraordinary  amount  of  wrong.  He  did  not  favor 
some  persons  more,  and  others  less,  merely  to  enable 
the  strong  to  rob  the  feeble.  It  therefore  appears 
conclusive,  that  to  whom  God  has  given  much,  of 
them  much  is  required,  not  much  wealth,  but  much 
virtuous  effort  and  many  good  Avorks  among  His  less 
favored  fellow-beings.  But  are  the  moral,  social  and 
religious  systems  of  the  19th  century,  constituted  in 
accordance  with  this  beneficent  requirement  of  the 
Divine  will  ?  Modern  society  is  constituted,  as  though 
the  Creator  having  made  ample  provision  for  the 
proper  gratification  of  the  natural  wants  of  all  His 
human  creatures,  has  endowed  some  of  them  with 
superior  faculties  and  powers  for  the  express  purpose 
of  enabling  them  to  obtain  the  possession  of  more  of 
His  bounties  than  can  be  of  any  real  use  to  them, 
and  deprive  their  less  favored  brothers  and  sisters  of 
a  sufficiency  to  satisfy  the  wants  of  nature.  Great 
God !  have  mercy  upon  thy  erring  creatures  here 
below. 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.          133 


He  has  the  most  independent  income,  who  has  the 
fewest  demands  for  spending  money.  It  is  surpris- 
ing how  few  are  the  natural  wants  of  man  and  how 
infinite  are  his  acquired  wants.  Natural  wants  are 
such  as  are  essential  to  human  existence,  and  contri- 
bute to  the  virtuous  pleasures  of  the  mind  and  body. 
Acquired  wants  are  such  as  are  formed  by  habit  and 
by  the  perversion  of  the  natural  wants.  The  grati- 
fication of  every  natural  want  is  rewarded  by  the 
enjoyment  of  health,  vigor  of  mind  and  body,  and 
by  those  substantial  pleasures  which  ever  attend  the 
practice  of  virtue.  The  gratification  of  every  ac- 
quired want  is  but  a  draft  upon  the  capital  means  of 
our  happiness,  and  consequently  each  successive  draft 
only  decreases  that  capital,  and  thus  man  becomes 
bankrupt  so  far  as  regards  the  enjoyments  of  this 
world,  and  passes  to  a  future  state  of  existence.  He 
may  not  immediately  feel  the  effects  of  the  gratifica- 
tion of  an  unnatural  or  perverted  desire,  but  each  suc- 
cessive gratification  has  its  pernicious  effects  upon 
the  health  and  vigor  of  the  mind  and  body,  and  their 
excessive  gratification  inevitably  leads  to  misery, 
suffering  and  death.  Many  of  those  practices  which 
are  most  gratifying  to  our  perverted  nature,  are  most 
repulsive  to  our  unperverted  nature. 

Man  is  endowed  with  certain  animal  propensities, 
which  the  laws  of  his  nature  require  should  be  care- 
fully restrained.  The  unrestrained  gratification  of 
these  propensities  results  in  pernicious  habits  and  a 
perversion  of  the  natural  wants.  Their  proper  gra- 
tification is  a  source  of  virtuous  pleasure,  and  leads 
to  beneficial  results,  their  perversion  is  a  source  of 
misery  and  leads  to  suffering  and  ruin.  That  is  vir- 
tue ;  this  is  vice.  Hence  the  restrained  gratification 


134  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

of  the  propensity  for  acquiring  wealth  is  a  virtue, 
but  the  perversion  of  this  propensity  by  enlisting  all 
the  energies  of  life  in  the  vain  attempt  to  gratify  it, 
is  a  vice.  Every  time  we  yield  to  an  indulgence 
which  is  not  required  by  the  natural  wants,  we  take 
one  step  toward  the  formation  of  an  unnatural  de- 
sire, and  thus  is  formed  an  acquired  taste  which 
demands  gratification,  but  which  is  feeble  at  first  and 
easily  resisted,  but  with  each  succeeding  indulgence 
it  gains  strength,  until  by  its  excessive  gratification 
the  victim  is  involved  in  suffering  and  misery.  In 
this  way  the  natural  wants  of  man  are  frequently 
perverted,  and  he  ceases  to  derive  pleasure  from  the 
most  substantial  enjoyments  of  life,  and  soon  becomes, 
mentally  and  physically,  imbecile.  We  see  illustra- 
tions of  this  fact  every  day  in  the  cigar-smoking, 
tobacco-chewing,  whisky-drinking,  nic-nac  eating, 
fashion-aping  shadows  of  humanity,  of  strong  pas- 
sions and  feeble  physical  powers,  who  are  tottering 
down  to  a  premature  death  through  a  life  of  disease 
and  suffering.  How  sternly  does  outraged  nature 
vindicate  her  rights. 

It  would  require  but  little  effort  upon  the  part  of 
man  to  satisfy  all  the  real  wants  of  his  physical 
nature,  were  his  efforts  directed  properly  to  that 
purpose,  and,  instead  of  being  an  exhausting,  toiling 
drudgery,  which  overtasks  his  physical,  and  prevents 
the  proper  development  of  his  mental  and  moral 
powers,  it  would  be  a  source  of  pleasure,  affording 
delightful  gratification  to  all  the  functional  powers 
of  the  body;  but,  as  it  is  now,  one  portion  of  hu- 
manity is  suffering  for  the  want  of  sufficient  exer- 
cise, and  the  other  is  suffering  from  the  effects  of  too 
much.  In  the  present  condition  of  man,  at  least 
three-fourths  of  all  his  physical  efforts  are  required 
to  pander  to  his  acquired  wants.  Hence,  he  per- 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF   WEALTH.  135 

forms  four  times  the  amount  of  physical  labor  "which 
is  really  necessary  to  enable  him  to  reach  the  highest 
attainable  state  of  earthly  happiness,  while  three 
parts  of  this  labor,  instead  of  advancing  the  interests 
and  welfare  of  humanity,  actually  causes  the  miseries 
from  which  it  is  now  suffering,  by  forming  and  grat- 
ifying those  acquired  wants  which,  as  already  shown, 
invariably  lead  to  misery  and  suffering.  How  can 
the  moralists  and  ministers  of  the  present  age  expect 
to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  humanity,  and  expel 
vice,  crime,  and  misery  from  the  world,  while  they 
entirely  neglect,  or  attempt  to  heal  over  without 
removing  the  disease  of  such  a  putrid  ulcer  upon 
the  social  body.  We  know  that  the  moralizing  and 
preaching  of  the  present  age  is  not  properly  directed, 
and  almost  entirely  useless,  from  the  fact  that,  al- 
though they  are  rapidly  increasing,  yet  vice  and 
folly  are  increasing  in  a  still  greater  ratio  ;  and  this 
will  continue  to  be  so  until  man  discovers  the  real 
cause  of  his  misery  and  suffering,  and  earnestly  seeks 
to  remove  it  by  the  proper  development  of  all  the 
faculties  and  powers  of  his  nature,  and  thus  becomes 
a  moral  and  rational  being,  instead  of  a  mere  animal. 
This  will  take  place  just  as  soon  as  the  three  parts 
of  his  efforts  which  are  now  required  to  gratify  his 
acquired  wants,  are  devoted  to  the  development  of 
his  moral  sentiments  and  his  intellect;  and  until  this 
be  done,  man  will  not  fulfill  the  designs  of  his  crea- 
tion, and  must  necessarily  suffer  and  be  miserable. 
One-fourth  of  man's  time,  with  well  directed  effort, 
being  required  to  provide  for  his  natural  wants,  the 
remaining  three-fourths  should  be  devoted,  not  to  the 
accumulation  of  unnecessary  wealth,  but  to  the  de- 
velopment of  his  moral  and  intellectual  nature,  and 
to  the  discharge  of  those  duties  which  are  essential 
to  the  enjoyment  of  true  happiness.  What  a  change 


136  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

•would  this  effect  in  the  condition  of  humanity! 
Whenever  the  moral  sentiments  and  intellect  of  man 
shall  be  properly  developed,  and  thus  invested  with 
control  over  his  acts,  vice  and  crime  will  be  expelled 
from  the  world,  and  prisons  transformed  into  temples 
of  honest  industry  and  usefulness. 

But  when  we  turn  our  thoughts  from  the  beneficent 
designs  of  the  creator,  and  reflect  upon  the  perver- 
sions of  misguided  man,  and  behold  the  state  of 
society  by  which  we  are  surrounded,  we  are  almost 
ready  to  conclude  that  human  nature  is  inherently 
corrupt,  and  man  irredeemably  degenerated,  and, 
consequently,  give  up  all  idea  of  reform  while  we 
retain  the  human  attributes,  and  fix  our  goal  of 
happiness  beyond  the  shores  of  time.  But  if  we 
study  the  plan  of  human  nature,  we  distinctly  per- 
ceive that  the  Creator  has  endowed  man  with  all  the 
natural  qualities  which  are  essential  to  his  happiness 
in  this  life ;  and  we  believe  that  the  fetters  of  his 
moral  thralldom  may  yet  be  shaken  off,  and  that  he 
may  be  redeemed  from  the  control  of  his  perverted 
propensities,  and  attain  true  happiness  by  yielding 
obedience  to  the  dictates  of  the  higher  motives  of  his 
nature.  It  is  true  that  human  effort,  as  at  present 
directed,  instead  of  subserving  the  true  interests  of 
man,  defeats  his  own  happiness  by  pandering  to  his 
acquired  wants,  and  thus  producing  misery  and  suf- 
fering; that,  instead  of  devoting  one-fourth  of  his 
time  to  the  production  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  and 
the  remainder  to  the  promotion  of  his  social  and 
moral  condition,  as  the  chief  object  of  life,  he  de- 
votes his  whole  life  to  the  debasing  and  engrossing 
pursuit  of  wealth,  and  as  long  as  the  present  false 
public  sentiment  controls  the  acts  of  man,  and  wealth 
retains  its  present  power,  he  will  madly  offer  up  all 
his  dearest  interest  at  its  polluted  shrine ;  but  man  is 


UNDUE  INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  137 

endowed  with  reason,  he  is  at  least  capable  of  be- 
coming a  rational  being;  and  when  the  frenzy  of 
his  avaricious  passions  shall  have  subsided,  the  eye 
of  his  reason  may  be  unsealed,  and  he  will  at  last  be 
able  to  discover  the  true  object  of  human  existence. 
He  will  then  be  convinced  that  his  acquired  wants 
may  become  infinite,  and  that  they  are  insatiable, 
and  that  all  the  accumulated  wealth  of  the  world 
would  fail  to  satisfy  them,  and,  consequently,  he  has 
the  most  independent  income  who  has  the  fewest 
demands  for  spending  money. 


Man,  viewed  in  a  state  of  barbarism,  presents  a 
scene  of  violence  and  bloodshed.  This  is  the  nat- 
ural result  of  barbarism,  because  those  faculties 
which  constitute  man  a  rational  being  are  permitted 
to  remain  almost  entirely  dormant,  while  almost  un- 
restrained gratification  is  given  to  the  animal  pro- 
pensities. Man,  existing  in  the  savage  state,  is  a 
mere  animal,  and  displays  no  more  indications  of 
rationality  than  does  the  beaver  and  other  animals 
of  the  brute  creation.  The  Esquimaux  hut  does  not 
display  more  ingenuity  than  does  that  of  the  beaver, 
while  all  the  arrangements  of  the  Esquimaux  for 
providing  the  comforts  and  enjoyments  of  life  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  display  equal  intelligence  with 
those  of  the  beaver,  and  many  other  animals  act 
with  more  rationality  in  providing  the  necessaries  of 
life.  But,  as  the  moral  and  intellectual  faculties  of 
man  are  developed  and  brought  into  action  by  cul- 
tivation, he  gradually  displays  indications  of  ration- 
ality, until  at  length,  having  ascended,  step  by  step, 
through  all  the  degrees  and  mutations  of  human1 
condition,  so  far  as  man  has  yet  advanced,  he  stands 
forth  in  all  the  grandeur  and  glory  of  civilized  man. 
12 


138  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

How  changed  the  scene.  The  dense  forests  and 
boundless  wilds  have  been  transformed  into  busy 
cities  and  beautiful  farms.  No  longer  the  war- 
whoop  resounds  amid  the  primeval  oaks,  but  in  its 
stead  is  heard  the  terrific  shriek  of  the  steam  mes- 
senger as  it  speeds  on  its  swift  course  of  social  and 
commercial  intercourse.  Bands  of  industrious  citi- 
zens have  supplanted  the  hoards  of  painted  savages, 
and  perhaps  upon  the  very  spot  where  once  stood 
the  skin-covered  hut,  now  rises  the  magnificent  pro- 
portions of  the  stately  mansion,  or  the  less  imposing 
but  more  cheerful  cottage.  Where  but  a  few  years 
ago  were  performed  the  orgies  of  savage  supersti- 
tion, now  stands  the  noble  church,  consecrated  to 
the  worship  of  the  God  of  nature.  Comfort  and 
enjoyment  appears  to  crown  the  whole  scene  with 
peace  and  contentment. 

Such  is  the  external  appearance  of  civilized  man. 
Every  thing  which  is  essential  to  his  happiness  is 
easily  to  be  obtained,  and  he  is  surrounded  by  the 
smiling  scenes  of  nature,  which  should  elicit  the 
purest  emotions  and  sentiments  of  his  soul.  What 
is  to  prevent  him  from  being  happy  ?  To  one  who 
had  not  mingled  in  the  troubled  and  muddied  current 
of  civilized  society,  it  would  appear  as  if  the  limits 
of  the  garden  of  paradise  had  become  coextensive 
with  the  limits  of  civilization.  Why  has  it  not? 
Simply  and  only  because  man  is  still  eating  of  the 
forbidden  fruit  every  day  of  his  life. 

But  let  us  descend  from  the  observatory,  from 
which  we  have  viewed  the  happy  appearances  and 
external  beauties  of  civilized  man,  and  mingle  a 
little  in  his  society.  But  why  this  strife,  this  cease- 
less contention  ;  this  deception,  this  wronging  of 
each  other,  this  madness  and  frenzy,  as  if  each  person 
.were  possessed  of  seven  devils?  Is  the  constitution 


UNDUE  INFLUENCE  OP  WEALTH.  139 

of  nature  such  that  man  can  not  obtain  the  means 
•which  sustain  his  existence  without  defeating  his 
happiness  in  the  effort?  No.  Why,  then,  in  the 
midst  of  this  ample  provision  for  the  natural  wants 
of  all,  do  some  persons  amass  more  than  they  can 
use;  and,  after  the  most  inveterate  dog-in-the- 
manger  manner,  bark  and  growl  to  prevent  others 
from  using  what  they  can  not  ?  Why  does  not  civ- 
ilized man,  who  boasts  of  his  superior  rationality, 
acquire  a  sufficiency  to  gratify  every  real  want,  and 
leave  the  balance  to  those  who  need  it,  and  not 
make  life  one  continual  struggle  of  toil  and  suffer- 
ing, and  deprive  himself  of  most  of  the  substantial 
enjoyments  of  life,  for  the  purpose  of  amassing  what 
he  can  not  use,  and  which  only  adds  to  his  trouble 
and  discontent?  Why  is  his  spirit  so  oppressed  and 
burdened  with  care  and  trouble,  amid  so  many 
smiling  scenes,  and  while  his  Creator  has  spread 
out  before  him  so  profusely  so  many  sources  of  pleas- 
ure, and  placed  all  the  essential  means  of  his  happi- 
ness within  his  reach,  why  is  there  so  much  suffering, 
misery,  and  woe  ? 

Simply  because  a  false  public  sentiment  and  a 
perverted  civilization  bestow  favors,  respect,  and 
position  upon  those  who  possess 

- 

"  A  dust  dug  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth, 
Which,  being  cast  into  the  fire,  came  out 
A  shining  thing  that  fools  admired,  and  called 
A  god:" 

and  deny  them  to  those  who,  by  yielding  obedience 
to  the  requirements  of  the  God  of  nature,  have 
failed  to  receive  the  favors  of  this  god  of  civilized 
society.  Alas,  unhappy  man !  benighted  amid  all 
the  light  of  his  boasted  civilization,  he  imagines  that 
he  sees  the  brightest  rays  of  happiness  gleaming 


140          MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

through  the  glitter  of  wealth  and  gold,  and  performs, 
with  a  zeal  worthy  of  a  better  cause,  all  the  cruel 
rites  of  the  fickle  god ;  and,  in  order  to  serve  it  with 
more  devotion, 

-   .     -  :u 

"On  its  altar  sacrificed  ease,  peace, 
Truth,  faith,  integi'ity,  good  conscience,  friends, 
Love,  charity,  benevolence,  and  all 
The  sweet  and  tender  sympathies  of  life." 

How  unfortunate  it  is  that  scenes  so  glorious  as  the 
creations  of  God,  and  so  capable  of  yielding  the 
sweetest  enjoyments  of  life,  should  be  polluted  by 
such  a  turbid  stream  of  human  folly. 

The  retrospect  of  civilization  presents  the  discour- 
aging fact,  that  as  man  has  progressed  from  a  state 
of  barbarism,  and  become  civilized,  his  money-seeking 
propensities  has  increased,  and  the  most  enlightened 
nations  upon  the  earth,  present  this  day  the  melan- 
choly spectacle,  of  being  tho^e  in  which  wealth  is 
sought  with  the  most  engrossing  avidity,  and  in  which 
it  is  invested  with  the  most  crushing  power,  and  in- 
flicts upon  humanity  the  most  withering  curses.  Is 
it  the  sole  object  of  civilization  to  enable  man  to  hoard 
up  wealth  ?  Is  the  condition  of  man  to  be  considered 
the  more  elevated,  the  nearer  he  becomes  a  mere 
money-bag?  Can  it  not  be  so  arranged,  that  as  he 
advances  in  civilization  he  shall  be  taught  some  thing 
else  beside  the  rules  of  percentage,  and  that  he  has 
other  duties  to  discharge  beside  that  of  accumulating 
useless  wealth ;  or  can  not  he  advance  from  the  savage 
state  without  defeating  the  scheme  of  his  true  happi- 
ness at  every  step?  Can  not  he  become  civilized 
without  becoming  the  slave  of  wealth,  or  must  civil- 
ization necessarily  invest  wealth  with  a  power  which 
crushes  the  best  interests  of  humanity  ? 

But  the  same  cause  has  perverted  civilization  which 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  141 

has  perverted  every  other  social  institution  of  the 
age,  and  so  far  from  being  inherent  in  it,  it  is  only 
the  result  of  the  imperfect  state  of  human  develop- 
ment, and  of  the  ignorance  of  man  of  the  real  con- 
ditions of  his  true  happiness.  The  inborn  desire  for 
action  which  pervades  human  nature,  urges  man 
into  the  field  of  action,  while  his  vanity  and  ambition 
urge  him  to  pursue  that  course  of  action  which  yields 
them  the  greatest  gratification,  and  as  these  control- 
ing  impulses  can  not  be  so  effectually  gratified  in  any 
other  way  in  the  present  state  of  civilization,  as  by 
the  possession  of  wealth,  the  whole  civilized  world  is 
thus  forced  into  the  ruinous  struggle  for  wealth,  it 
engrosses  human  effort,  and,  consequently,  all  those 
nobler  purposes  which  alone  contribute  to  the  true 
and  substantial  advancement  of  human  condition  are 
neglected,  or  sacrificed,  to  its  attainment. 

But  how  is  this  to  be  prevented  ?  Simply,  by  the 
only  means  by  which  substantial  reform  can  ever  be 
effected,  by  making  sterling  virtue  the  test  of  char- 
acter, the  basis  of  respectability,  and  the  source 
of  promotion  in  society,  instead  of  wealth,  and  then 
the  native  vanity  and  ambition  of  man  could  be  as 
fully  gratified  by  the  practice  of  virtue,  as  it  now 
i$  by  the  possession  of  wealth;  and,  consequently, 
wealth  would  lose  its  crushing  power  in  society,  and 
virtue  assume  its  proper  control  over  human  conduct, 
and  a  virtuous  character  would  then  be  as  great  an 
object  of  human  attainment  as  the  possession  of 
wealth  is  now.  Then  would  human  progress  be  placed 
upon  a  permanent  basis,  and  unfurling  its  banners  in 
every  clime,  and  among  every  people,  it  would  move 
forward  with  accelerated  speed,  and  civilized  man, 
no  longer  exclusively  engaged  in  pursuit  of  wealth, 
would  seek  the  road  to  happiness,  agreeably  to  the 

. 


142  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

v  , 

designs  of  his  Creator,  as  revealed  in  the  works  of 
nature. 


The  citizens  of  our  own  country  are  the  freest  people 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  Other  nations  claim  to 
have  ascended  higher  in  the  scale  of  civilization  ;  but 
among  no  people  have  its  advantages  been  so  univer- 
sally enjoyed  as  among  our  own.  While  a  few  of  the 
favored  caste,  in  different  nations  of  Europe,  have,  per- 
haps, arrived  at  a  higher  state  of  education  and  refine- 
ment, than  have  yet  been  attained  in  this  country,  yet 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  every  European  nation 
are  ignorant,  oppressed,  and  degraded.  Here  every 
citizen  is  truly  a  sovereign,  and  all  the  advantages 
of  our  free  government  are  equally  shared  by  all. 
From  the  days  in  which  the  republics  of  ancient 
Greece  angl  Rome  shone  forth  so  gloriously  amid  the 
despotisms  and  darkness  by  which  they  were  sur- 
rounded, until  our  own  happy  and  successful  solution 
of  the  great  question  of  man's  capacity  for  self-gov- 
ernment, no  nation,  past  or  present,  has  so  successfully 
and  universally  enjoyed  the  advantages  and  blessings 
of  the  democratic  form  of  government. 

Here  every  citizen  has  a  voice  in  the  formation  qf 
the  institutions  by  which  he  is  to  be  governed.  Here 
no  exclusive  caste,  sustained  by  a  powerful  standing 
army,  usurps  the  reins  of  government,  and  drives  its 
crushing  weight  over  the  oppressed  masses,  in  viola- 
tion of  every  human  right,  thus  elevating  the  few  by 
reducing  the  many  to  hopeless  servitude  and  degra- 
dation. Here  no  titled  aristocracy  holds  the  real 
property  of  the  country  from  age  to  age,  thus  depriv- 
ing the  mass  of  the  people  of  the  indispensable  means 
of  comfortable  subsistence.  But  what  follows  from 
all  this  ?  It  follows  conclusively,  that  as  the  powers 


UNDUE  INFLUENCE  OP  WEALTH.  143 

of  government  are  thus  either  directly  or  indirectly 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  that  the  people 
must  be  capable  of  exercising  these  high  privileges 
in  such  a  manner  as  will  perpetuate  those  free  insti- 
tutions. If  there  is  any  one  fact  which  the  history 
of  man  has  unquestionably  settled,  it  is,  that  free  in- 
stitutions can  not  exist,  except  upon  the  basis  of 
public  and  private  virtue  and  morality,  and  the  gen- 
eral intelligence  of  the  people.  This  is  not  only  a 
point  settled  in  history,  but  it  is  also  an  immutable 
law  of  nature. 

Hence  every  cause  which  has  a  tendency  to  corrupt 
the  virtue  of  a  people,  has  a  direct  tendency  to  dis- 
qualify them  for  the  enjoyment  of  free  institutions. 
History  demonstrates  the  fact  beyond  a  doubt,  that 
excessive  wealth  is  the  great  operative  cause  which 
debases  and  corrupts  the  public  and  private  virtue 
of  a  nation,  and  thus  leads  directly  to  its  downfall. 
It  can  be  easily  shown  that  no  great  nation  of  people 
has  ever  yet  been  swept  from  independent  existence, 
until  its  public  spirit  and  energy  have  been  corrupted 
and  enervated  by  the  excessive  abundance  of  wealth, 
and  the  tottering  fabric,  undermined  by  vice  and 
corruption,  has  been  easily  overthrown  by  its  more 
virtuous  and  enterprising  neighbors.  True  public 
spirit  and  virtue  lead  to  the  accession  of  national 
power;  great  national  power  produces  the  concentra- 
tion of  wealth,  and  excessive  wealth  corrupts  public 
spirit  and  virtue,  and  then  the  national  power,  with- 
out an  adequate  force  to  sustain  it,  passes  away. 
Thus  nations  rise  and  fall.  The  influx  of  excessive 
wealth  invariably  destroys  public  virtue,  and  soon 
the  public  spirit  of  the  nation  is  drowned  in  the  cor- 
rupting streams  of  luxury  and  indolence,  and  it  inglo- 
riously  sinks  into  the  grave  of  nations. 

If  these  premises  be  true,  have  we,  as  a  nation,  no 


144  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

cause  for  fear?  We  have  a  just  cause  to  be  proud  of 
our  national  position.  Our  political  sun  is  soaring  in 
unrivalled  brightness  and  power  amid  the  galaxy  of 
nations :  no  cloud  is  lowering  upon  the  political  hori- 
zon to  obscure  its  splendor,  and  the  stars  and  stripes 
are  unfurled  upon  every  sea  and  in  every  clime,  the 
proud  emblem  of  liberty,  triumphantly  asserting  man's 
capacity  for  self-government.  But  in  the  full  tide  of 
our  prosperity,  are  we  not  sowing  the  seeds  of  our 
ultimate  ruin  ?  If  popular  virtue  is  essential  to  the 
existence  of  republican  institutions,  and  the  accumu- 
lation of  excessive  wealth  is  the  operative  cause 
which  dissipates  and  corrupts  popular  virtue,  are 
we  fostering  that  sterling  virtue  and  vigorous  public 
spirit  which  constitute  the  bulwarks  of  our  free 
nationality,  and  which  Avill  perpetuate  our  free  insti- 
tutions from  generation  to  generation  ? 

Learned  philosophers  have  said  that  war  is  not 
an  unmitigated  evil,  because  it  awakens  the  public 
spirit  of  the  nation,  and  diverts  the  attention  of  the 
citizens  from  the  engrossing  pursuit  of  wealth,  and 
arouses  them  from  indulgence  in  luxury  and  indo- 
lence, and  thus  stems  the  current  of  enervating  and 
corrupting  vices  and  follies,  which,  in  times  of  unin- 
terrupted prosperity,  are  generally  maturing  into  the 
fruits  which  will  eventually  cause  their  ruin.  The 
effect  of  excessive  wealth  upon  individuals  and  nations 
is  not  materially  different.  Under  its  influence  nei- 
ther can  long  be  truly  virtuous.  As  with  persons, 
BO  with  nations,  a  certain  amount  of  wealth  is  essen- 
tial to  national  power  and  prosperity,  and  that 
amount  is  merely  a  sufficiency  to  supply  the  actual 
necessities  of  the  nation;  and  let  it  always  be  re- 
membered that  national  liberty  never  has,  nor  never 
can  be  achieved  or  sustained,  by  wealth,  but  only  by 
the  virtue  and  patriotism  of  the  citizens.  Excessive 


UNDUE    INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  145 

individual  wealth  does  not  more  certainly  lead  to 
individual  effeminacy,  than  does  excessive  national 
wealth  lead  to  national  effeminacy,  and,  consequently, 
to  the  dissipation  of  public  spirit. 

A  nation's  prosperity  and  power,  therefore,  does 
not  always  increase  with  the  amount  of  its  wealth, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  we  have  only  to  review  the  his- 
tory of  nations  to  ascertain  the  fact  that  the  period 
of  a  nation's  glory  and  prosperity  are  invariably  the 
days  of  its  honest  poverty  and  moderate  wealth, 
while  the  period  of  its  decline  and  fall  are  the  days 
of  its  excessive  wealth.  Among  all  the  great  nations 
that  have  arisen,  flourished,  and  passed  away,  there 
is  not  a  single  exception  to  this  general  rule.  The 
ancient  republics  of  Greece  and  Rome  flourished 
and  strengthened  into  irresistible  power  during  the 
days  of  their  uncorrupted  virtue ;  but,  as  soon  as  a 
perennial  stream  of  wealth  poured  in  upon  them,  in 
consequence  of  this  power,  from  all  their  tributaries, 
it  corrupted  and  dissipated  the  public  spirit  and 
energies  of  the  people,  and  while  they  were  intent 
only  upon  public  fetes  and  shows,  and  indulging  in 
luxury  and  vice,  their  oppressors  easily  fixed  upon 
them  permanently  the  shackles  of  servitude.  It  is 
an  established  principle  in  the  economy  of  nature,  to 
prevent  the  ruinous  oppressions  and  evils  of  universal 
empire,  that  when  a  national  power  attains  that  irre- 
sistible strength,  which  would  enable  it  to  swallow 
up  every  other  body  politic,  that  the  corrupting 
streams  of  wealth  which  flow  into  it,  as  the  natural 
result  of  that  power,  corrupt  and  dissipate  the  virtue 
and  energy  of  the  people,  until  they  become  unable 
to  sustain  the  weight  of  the  colossal  fabric,  and,  con- 
sequently, dismemberment  occurs,  and  its  constituent 
parts  are  reorganized  into  new  political  systems, 
13 


146  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

relieved  from  the  destructive  influence  of  the  con- 
centration of  wealth. 

Had  the  ancient  Romans  retained  the  sterling 
valor  and  patriotism  which  enabled  their  victorious 
legions  to  plant  the  Roman  eagle  upon  the  fairest 
portions  of  the  earth,  the  combined  powers  of  the 
world  would  have  been  unable  to  resist  their  power, 
and  universal  empire  must  have  been  their  destiny ; 
but,  after  the  wealth  of  the  world  had  been  made 
contributary  to  Rome,  even  the  power  of  the  Eternal 
City  yielded  to  its  destroying  agency.  And  such 
are  the  teachings  of  history  in  regard  to  other 
nations. 

Accepting  this,  then,  as  an  established  principle, 
are  our  tendencies  as  a  nation  such  as  will  strengthen 
and  perpetuate  our  free  institutions  ?  Among  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  there  is  no  other  in  which  wealth 
is  sought  by  the  entire  people  with  such  engrossing 
avidity  as  in  our  own.  We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  com- 
mercial struggle  which  is  enlisting  all  the  thoughts, 
hopes,  and  energies  of  our  entire  people.  We  are 
absolutely  running  mad  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth. 
We  recklessly  stake  our  happiness  for  life  upon  the 
result  of  a  single  desperate  speculation.  Most  of 
our  regular  business  occupations  are  only  system- 
atic gambling,  so  uncertain  and  desperate  has  be- 
come the  struggle.  There  is  scarcely  any  one  but 
whose  sole  object  is  to  become  wealthy,  and  base 
intrigues  and  dishonest  artifices  have  become  the 
common  conduct  of  life.  The  most  reckless  gam- 
bling, with  all  its  consequent  vices  and  miseries,  is 
alarmingly  on  the  increase  in  all  our  larger  cities. 
All  the  means  by  which  money  can  be  obtained  are 
resorted  to  without  regard  to  honesty  or  charity. 
Swindling,  cheating  and  deceiving,  are  the  regular 


UNDUE  INFLUENCE  OF   WEALTH.  147 

business  occupations  of  a  large  proportion  of  our  city 
population.  Robberies  abound,  and  murders  for 
money  are  of  frequent  occurrence.  The  man  of 
wealth  has  to  guard  his  slippery  treasures  with  fire- 
arms and  bludgeons,  as  vigilantly  as  though  he  were 
surrounded  by  the  Bedouins  of  the  desert.  Police- 
men, criminal  laws,  and  penitentiaries,  can  not  deter 
men  from  making  a  reckless  grab  at  the  almighty 
dollar.  The  virtue  and  morality  of  a  large  portion 
of  our  citizens  are  literally  sold  out  and  delivered 
over  to  the  power  of  wealth.  We  are  now  in  the 
midst  of  the  mature  manhood  of  our  national  exist- 
ence ;  and  the  agencies  are  at  work  among  us  which, 
unless  they  are  counteracted,  will  soon  destroy  the 
sterling  qualities  of  our  energetic  people,  and  pro- 
duce mortal  disease  in  the  body  politic.  We  are 
great  and  prosperous  now ;  but  so  were  once  Greece 
and  Rome.  At  the  very  time  that  they  stood  most 
proudly  upon  the  summit  of  national  power,  and  felt 
most  secure,  the  mortal  enemy  of  national  greatness 
was  insidiously  corrupting  those  sterling  qualities  of 
Roman  and  Grecian  virtue,  which  had  reared  those 
mighty  fabrics,  and  which  alone  could  sustain  them. 
They  fell.  Shall  we  heed  the  lesson,  or  shall  we 
rush  on  impetuously,  until,  like  them,  our  national 
existence  is  blotted  out  from  among  the  nations? 

It  is  true  that  this  universal  struggle  is  developing 
the  resources  of  our  country,  but  these  resources 
may  be  developed  in  harmony  with  national  safety 
and  permanent  prosperity ;  and  it  will  be  well  to 
recollect  that  excessive  wealth  has  never  been  di- 
vested of  that  corrupting  influence  which  destroyed 
the  strength  and  glory  of  the  nations  of  antiquity, 
and  that  we  are  still  subject  to  the  same  operations 
of  cause  and  eifect,  which  hurried  them  to  their  ruin. 
Now,  this  universal  and  continual  effort  to  produce 


148  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

wealth,  must  result  in  the  accumulation  of  excessive 
personal  and  national  wealth,  and  this  will  corrupt 
and  dissipate  the  virtue  and  public  spirit  of  the 
people,  and  finally  render  them  incapable  of  pre- 
serving and  perpetuating  our  free  institutions,  or 
there  is  no  truth  in  the  teachings  of  history,  or  cer- 
tainty in  the  operation  of  the  laws  of  nature. 

But  of  all  the  efforts  which  are  made  to  justify 
the  exclusive  pursuit  of  wealth,  and  clothe  it  in  the 
garbs  of  virtue,  no  excuse  answers  its  purpose  so 
well,  and  seems  to  transform  the  very  wrongs  and 
dishonest  artifices  which  are  resorted  to,  into  pure 
and  commendable  motives,  as  that  of  making  pecu- 
niary provision  for  children.  The  idea  that  a  child's 
happiness  and  future  prospects  in  the  world  depend 
upon  the  amount  of  wealth  which  its  parents  will 
be  able  to  leave  it,  at  their  death,  seems  to  have 
taken  entire  possession  of  the  human  mind.  Hence, 
all  orders  of  society  are  engaged  in  a  desperate 
strife  to  amass  wealth  for  this  special  purpose,  and 
all  seem  to  think  that  the  object  of  life  has  failed, 
and  their  unfortunate  children  are  doomed  to  a  life 
of  toil  and  disgrace,  if  they  are  not  able  to  bestow 
upon  them  a  sufficient  amount  of  wealth  to  enable 
them  to  defeat  their  own  happiness,  and  the  designs 
of  God,  by  leading  a  life  of  idle  worthlessness  and 
vice,  instead  of  devoting  the  energies,  with  which 
they  are  endowed,  to  honest  effort,  and  thus  securing 
their  own  virtuous  enjoyment,  and  contributing  to  the 
general  welfare  of  mankind. 

The  religious  denominations  of  the  present  day 
have  almost  entirely  ceased,  even  to  seriously  at- 
tempt to  divert  the  attention  of  their  professing 
members  from  the  practice  of  this  popular  vice, 


UNDUE    INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.          149 

which  is  defiling  the  purity  of  religion ;  and  hence, 
our  religion  consists  too  much  in  empty  words  and 
loud  profession,  while  our  real  acts  and  earnest  en- 
deavors are  devoted  to  the  accumulation  of  wealth. 
It  is  a  melancholy  fact  that  those  who  make  the 
loudest  professions  of  religion,  are  generally  those 
who  are  devoting  their  efforts  most  exclusively  to 
the  accumulation  of  wealth,  and  they  suppose  that 
the  discrepancies  between  their  professions  and  their 
practice  will  be  reconciled,  and  all  the  crooked  ways 
in  their  conduct  made  straight  by  the  very  commend- 
able object  which  they  have  in  view,  that  of  making 
provision  for  their  children.  According  to  the  pre- 
dominant religion  of  the  age,  the  pursuit  of  wealth 
and  the  practice  of  pious  virtue,  consist  in  the  same 
thing,  or  rather  religion  has  assimilated  itself  to  the 
practices  of  money-getting,  and  they  now  walk  hand 
in  hand  in  mutual  confidence  and  friendship,  the 
former  sanctifying,  by  its  holy  name,  the  unholy  acts 
of  the  latter,  and  it  seems  to  be  supposed  that  the 
follies  and  errors  of  the  age  have  effected  mutations 
in  eternal  and  immutable  principles,  until  religion 
has  thus  been  metamorphosed  into  the  handmaid 
of  avarice  and  money-grubbing. 

Undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  difficult  and  import- 
ant class  of  duties  which  parents  are  required  to 
perform,  is  that  of  making  the  proper  provision  for 
the  welfare  and  happiness  of  their  children.  The 
Creator  has  placed  them  helplessly  in  their  hands, 
capable  of  being  molded  into  almost  any  moral 
shape,  and  of  receiving  that  direction  in  the  com- 
mencement of  the  journey  of  life,  which  they  are 
afterward  to  pursue,  while  he  has  placed  within  the 
bosom  of  the  parents  a  steadfast  love  for  their  off- 
spring, which  the  roughest  surges  of  fortune  can  not 
move.  But  as  the  manner  in  which  these  duties  are 


150'  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

to  be  discharged  depends  entirely  upon  the  discretion 
of  the  parent,  the  justice  of  the  Creator  requires 
that  the  parents  should  be  held  responsible  for  the 
manner  in  which  these  high  privileges  are  exercised. 
What  a  fearful  responsibility  is  thus  resting  upon 
parents,  and  how  carefully  should  they  investigate 
and  weigh  every  principle  and  motive  Avhich  can  aid 
them  in  the  proper  discharge  of  the  most  sacred  and 
important  duties  which  they  owe  to  their  God,  to 
their  children,  to  themselves,  and  to  humanity. 

Without  entering  upon  the  general  discussion  of 
these  important  duties,  let  us  consider  briefly  the 
duty  of  parents  to  make  pecuniary  provision  for 
their  children.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  their  duty 
to  endeavor  to  make  this  provision,  so  far  as  wealth 
may  be  considered  as  the  necessary  means  which 
sustains  human  existence,  and  contributes  to  its  le- 
gitimate pleasures  and  enjoyments,  and  also,  so  far 
as  it  may  be  the  means  of  aiding  their  children  in 
the  discharge  of  the  esssential  duties  of  life ;  that 
is,  it  will  be  of  advantage  to  a  young  person  to 
receive  from  his  parents  a  moderate  portion  of  those 
means  which  are  essential  to  life,  not  because  he 
may  not  earn  them  himself,  nor  because  they  will 
enable  him  more  readily  to  acquire  wealth,  but  be- 
cause it  will  then  require  less  time  to  obtain  these 
necessaries,  and  thus  enable  him  to  devote  more  time 
in  early  life  to  the  investigation  of  the  natural  con- 
ditions of  his  existence,  and  to  the  proper  develop- 
ment of  his  moral  and  intellectual  faculties,  which 
are  indispensable  to  his  happiness  and  enjoyment, 
both  in  his  animal  and  rational  capacities,  and  which 
alone  can  enable  him  to  attain  the  highest  state 
of  being. 

.  But  certainly  nothing  can  be  more  contrary  to  the 
designs  of  the  Creator  as  revealed  by  nature  and  by 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF   WEALTH.  151 

scripture,  than  for  the  father  to  devote  his  whole  life 
to  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  for  the  purpose  of  be- 
stowing it  upon  the  child ;  for  the  father  defeats  his 
own  happiness  by  the  over-exertion  of  one  class  of 
faculties,  and  that  the  lowest  of  his  nature,  while 
the  higher  class  of  his  faculties,  that  is,  the  moral 
and  intellectual,  remain  inactive,  and  thus  the  scheme 
of  human  nature  is  completely  inverted,  the  animal, 
or  selfish  faculties  predominating  instead  of  the  moral 
and  intellectual.  But  by  this  means,  wealth  is  ob- 
tained and  bestowed  upon  the  child,  who  thus  being 
relieved  of  the  necessity  of  virtuous  effort,  is  either 
forced  by  the  energies  of  his  nature,  which  demand 
action,  into  the  practices  of  vice  and  folly,  or  his  edu- 
cation having  taught  him  but  one  principle,  and  that 
the  supreme  importance  of  wealth,  his  whole  atten- 
tion is  absorbed  in  its  engrossing  pursuit,  and  it  mat- 
ters not  which  of  these  directions  he  takes,  the  de- 
sign of  his  existence  is  defeated.  It  is  very  gene- 
rally the  case,  that  the  father  defeats  his  own  happi- 
ness in  order  to  amass  wealth,  to  enable  his  son  to 
defeat  his  happiness,  in  order  to  spend  it. 

What  can  amount  to  more  consummate  folly.  It 
really  seems  as  if  man  had  designedly  set  himself  to 
work  to  pervert  all  the  faculties  with  which  he  is 
endowed,  and  to  employ  them  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  entailing  upon  himself  the  most  withering 
curses.  The  annals  of  savage  life  record  practices 
upon  which  civilized  man  reflects  with  horror  and 
disgust,  and  every  age  of  human  existence  reveals 
habits  and  delusions  which  animal  instinct  can  never 
equal,  and  which  the  most  grossly  perverted  ration- 
ality only  can  achieve  ;  but  among  all  the  absurd  prac- 
tices and  follies  of  barbarism,  and  all  the  delusions 
and  errors  of  heathenism,  none  are  more  fatal  to  the 
true  interest  of  man,  or  more  effectually  prevent  him 


152  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

from  attaining  his  proper  state  of  being,  than  the  all 
absorbing  passion  for  wealth  which  now  controls 
human  conduct  throughout  the  civilized  world. 

Were  we  to  judge,  from  the  conduct  of  civilized 
man,  we  might  be  lead  to  conclude  that  he  is  an 
animal  endowed  with  propensities  for  hoarding 
wealth,  and  that  his  superiority  over  the  lower  ani- 
mals consists  principally  in  this  :  that  by  the  perver- 
sion of  the  faculties  of  his  rationality,  he  is  enabled 
to  accumulate  wealth  more  successfully  than  they. 
Disregarding  all  the  delightful  enjoyments  of  a  life 
spent  in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of  our 
nature,  he  immures  himself  in  the  dark  prison-house 
of  his  counting-room,  where,  amid  dry  goods  and 
groceries,  day  books  and  ledgers,  bills-receivable  and 
bills-payable,  his  whole  life  is  one  continual  routine 
of  anxiety  and  solicitude,  and  where,  by  driving  trades 
of  questionable  veracity,  he  heaps  together  piles  of 
sordid  gold.  This  debasing  passion  for  wealth,  fre- 
quently produces  such  monster  offspring  in  human 
shape,  that  they  would  barter  with  the  devil  himself, 
and  traffic  human  happiness  for  misery  and  woe, 
provided  that  thereby  they  could  obtain  the  coveted 
gold. 

If  we  divest  ourselves  of  the  prejudices  and  opi- 
nions which  a  false  education  has  so  permanently 
fixed  in  our  minds,  that  we  never  entertain  a  doubt 
of  their  correctness,  and  reflect  that  man  is  endowed 
with  reason,  and  capable  of  investigating  and  ascer- 
taining the  laws  of  his  own  nature,  and  their  rela- 
tion to  external  objects,  that  God  created  him  in  his 
own  image,  upright  and  without  sin,  and  implanted 
in  his  mind  moral  attributes,  and  bestowed  as  the 
reward  of  their  exercise,  the  purest  and  most  sub- 
stantial enjoyments  of  life,  in  short,  that  man  is 
endowed  with  every  attribute  which  is  essential  to 


UNDUE    INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  153 

the  enjoyment  of  universal  happiness  :  when  we  thus 
reflect,  and  then  consider  the  condition  of  man,  after 
he  has  had  sixty  centuries  in  which  to  investigate 
and  ascertain  the  conditions  of  his  earthly  existence, 
we  find  him  systematically  adopting  that  course  of 
action  which  necessarily  produces  misery,  and  obsti- 
nately refusing  to  comply  with  the  conditions  upon 
which  his  Creator  has  offered  him  substantial  happi- 
ness as  a  human  being ;  perverting  the  noblest  facul- 
ties of  his  rationality,  and  arousing  into  intense 
activity  the  animal  propensities  of  his  nature,  by  the 
exclusive  pursuit  of  wealth ;  when  we  consider  all 
these  things,  we  can  only  ask,  why  is  it,  that  while 
man  is  thus  endowed,  he  acts  thus  ?  It  is,  because 
man  is  both  a  rational  being  and  an  animal ;  if  he  is 
controlled  by  his  rational  sentiments,  his  animal  pro- 
pensities only  perform  their  proper  subordinate  func- 
tions, and  he  seeks  and  enjoys  true  happiness  ;  but 
if  he  is  controlled  by  his  animal  propensities,  he 
seeks  the  gratification  of  his  animal  nature,  while 
his  rationality  is  either  perverted  or  remains  dor- 
mant ;  but  as  he  is  controlled  by  his  rational  or  ani- 
mal nature,  according  as  their  faculties  are  developed 
into  strength  and  activity,  and  as  the  pursuit  which 
engages  his  attention  and  controls  his  action  in  the 
present  age,  only  perverts  the  sentiments  of  his  ra- 
tionality and  arouses  into  action  and  strength  the 
propensities  of  his  animal  nature;  he  is,  therefore, 
controlled  by  these  propensities,  and  hence  results,  in 
a  great  degree,  the  misery  and  unhappiness  which 
he  at  present  suffers.  But,  if  you  would  know  the 
popular  reason  why  man  acts  thus,  you  must  be  in- 
formed, that  he  is  merely  engaged  in  the  laudable 
employment  of  making  pecuniary  provision  for  his 
children. 

Who  can,  without  sorrowful  and  solemn  feelings^ 


154  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

look  upon  the  broad  possessions  of  him  who  has 
faithfully  devoted  his  life  to  the  accumulation  of 
wealth,  but  who  has  now  been  called  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  his  earthly  stewardship  before  that  judg- 
ment bar  where  wealth  is  not  the  dispenser  of 
favors,  nor  obtains  for  its  possessor  a  respectable 
position  in  society?  Who  can  reflect,  without  a 
shudder,  that  to  amass  these  earthly  possessions,  an 
immortal  being  has  deprived  himself  of  all  the 
sweetest  pleasures  and  enjoyments  of  time,  and  the 
soul  has  now  winged  its  flight  to  that  eternal  home 
where  the  earthly  acts  and  deeds  by  which  they  were 
obtained,  will  again  blast  the  pleasures  and  enjoy- 
ments of  eternity  ?  Think  you  that  the  soul  of  that 
man  who  has  spent  his  life  in  acquiring  these  pos- 
sessions, when  it  appears  in  the  presence  of  its 
Maker,  will  dare  to  justify  his  earthly  conduct,  by 
the  excuse  that  all  this  was  done  in  order  to  make 
provision  for  his  children  ? 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  provision  which  is  thus 
made  for  children.  They  have  been  provided  with 
an  education  which  teaches  them  the  supreme  im- 
portance of  wealth,  and  the  utter  unworthiness  of 
man  without  it,  and,  consequently,  they  worship 
wealth,  even  if  it  be  found  in  close  relationship  with 
rascality,  and  scorn  honest  poverty,  although  it  be 
associated  with  the  purest  piety  and  virtue ;  and 
they  have  been  provided  with  sentiments  and  views 
of  life  which  teach  them  that  honest  effort,  such  as 
their  Creator  requires  of  them,  is  disgraceful  to  a 
respectable  person,  but  that  the  wild  and  dishonest 
schemes  of  respectable  gambling  and  speculation, 
by  which  our  moneyed  aristocracy  obtain  their  ill- 
gotten  gains,  are  the  only  occupations  which  are 
worthy  of  the  attention  of  those  who  expect  to  circu- 
late at  par  in  our  "  best  society." 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  155 

They  are  also  provided  with  habits  and  notions 
•which  render  them  thoroughly  worthless,  as  far  as 
regards  the  most  essential  duties  of  life,  and  which 
hurry  them  into  practices  of  vice  and  dissipation, 
and  then,  added  to  all  these  inestimable  legacies,  in 
order  to  complete  their  felicity,  and  secure  their  hap- 
piness beyond  all  emergency,  they  are  provided  with 
wealth.  Does  not  the  folly  of  man  amount  to  infat- 
uation, when  he  devotes  all  the  best  energies  of  his 
life  exclusively  to  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  and 
with  an  application  so  intense  that  he  not  only  de- 
prives himself  of  its  best  enjoyments  and  induces 
suffering  and  misery  in  their  stead,  but  he  also  thus, 
very  generally,  shortens  the  period  of  its  existence  ; 
and  he  does  all  this  in  order  to  make  that  provision 
for  his  children  which  so  effectually  defeats  all  the 
aims  and  designs  of  human  existence,  and  renders 
them  drones  in  the  great  hive  of  human  industry. 
Thus,  when  man  has  finished  the  course  of  life,  he 
has  effectually  defeated  his  own  happiness,  and 
damned  his  own  soul,  in  order  to  make  that  provision 
which  shall  effectually  defeat  the  happiness  and  damn 
the  soul  of  the  child.  If  these  were  the  unavoida- 
ble results  of  the  superior  intelligence  of  man,  the 
conclusion  would  be  forced  upon  us  that  he  is  en- 
dowed with  extraordinary  faculties  only  to  enable 
him  to  curse  himself  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  for 
no  animal,  which  is  not  endowed  with  the  faculties 
of  rationality,  can  ever  be  guilty  of  that  degree  of 
vice  and  folly  which  has  such  a  pernicious  influence 
upon  its  welfare. 

Some  one  having  remarked,  in  the  presence  of 
Lord  Erskine,  that  a  certain  person  had  died,  worth 
a  million  of  pounds,  his  lordship,  in  his  usual,  quiet, 
satirical  manner,  remarked,  "  what  a  handsome  sum 
to  commence  the  next  world  with."  Civilized  man 


15G          MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

presents  the  singular  aspect  of  rational  beings  who 
believe  in  a  future  state  of  existence,  and  that  moral 
preparation  in  this  life  is  essential  to  its  enjoyment, 
yet  who,  by  devoting  their  energies  almost  entirely 
to  the  accumulation  of  the  treasures  of  this  world, 
effectually  defeat  this  necessary  preparation,  thus 
condemning  themselves  by  confessing  its  necessity, 
yet  pursuing  that  course  of  life  which  most  certainly 
prevents  it. 

Such  is  the  provision  which  the  civilization  of  the 
present  age  teaches  man  to  make  for  his  children. 
It  is  the  poisoned  drop  which  is  blighting  the  sweet- 
est fruits  of  human  happiness,  and  diffusing  its  virus 
throughout  the  social  systems  of  the  entire  civilized 
world.  Is  the  moral  nature  of  man  so  debased  by 
this  sordid  current,  which  follows  in  the  wake  of 
civilization,  that  it  can  not  be  redeemed  by  the  pro- 
per development  of  those  noble  qualities  of  the 
human  mind,  which  alone  can  achieve  the  true  des- 
tiny of  man,  and  form  the  only  substantial  basis 
upon  which  a  true  progressive  civilization  can  rest? 
Perhaps  the  most  efficient  means  of  establishing  true 
human  progress,  is  the  inborn  love  and  attachment 
which  man  feels  for  his  offspring.  This  is  the  pow- 
erful motive  which  controls  his  conduct,  and  directs 
his  efforts.  When  this  natural  desire  of  man  to 
secure  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  his  child  shall 
be  directed  by  a  properly-developed  moral  and  in- 
tellectual nature,  and  he  correctly  understands  the 
nature  of  the  duties  which  he  owes  to  his  child,  then 
will  his  most  sincere  and  earnest  endeavors  to  benefit 
the  child  cease  to  be  transformed  by  the  blighting 
touch  of  folly  and  error,  into  the  real  causes  which 
defeat  the  enjoyment  of  true  happiness.  He  will 
then  be  convinced  that  his  Creator  requires  of  him 
the  discharge  of  other  duties  toward  his  child,  beside 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OP   WEALTH.  157 

devoting  the  energies  of  his  whole  life  to  the  accu- 
mulation of  superfluous  wealth,  to  corrupt  and  per- 
vert its  youthful  nature ;  and,  also,  that  the  Creator 
and  modern  society  have  entirely  different  rules  by 
which  to  estimate  the  value  of  dollars  and  cents,  and 
that  his  rules  are  to  be  definitely  ascertained  by 
investigating  the  system  of  nature,  and  that  the 
problem  of  human  happiness  can  only  be  solved  by 
working  according  to  the  rules  which  are  there 
taught. 

He  will  then  discover  that  the  inheritance  of 
earthly  wealth,  is  not  essential  to  the  welfare  or 
happiness  of  his  child,  but  that  a  rich  legacy  of 
moral  and  intellectual  wealth,  consisting  in  the  pro- 
per discipline  and  development  of  all  the  faculties 
of  the  mind,  is  the  only  provision  which  a  father 
can  make  for  a  child,  and  thereby  certainly  secure 
its  future  welfare  and  happiness.  How  happy  would 
life  be  spent  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  all  its  es- 
sential duties,  spent  in  molding  the  plastic  faculties 
of  the  infant  mind  into  that  shape  which  is  to  decide 
its  destiny  in  time  and  in  eternity,  and  when  the 
the  parent  had  fought  the  good  fight,  had  finished 
his -course,  and  was  ready  to  receive  the  crown  of 
righteousness,  how  sweet  would  be  the  consolation, 
in  the  hour  of  death,  that  he  had  bequeathed  an 
inheritance  to  his  children,  which  would  secure  to 
them  earthly  happiness,  amid  all  the  trials  and 
troubles  of  time,  and  eternal  happiness  beyond  its 
shores . 


Man  is  not  endowed  with  any  faculty  which  is  not 
essential  to  his  happiness,  neither  is  he  endowed 
with  any  faculty,  but  which,  being  abused  or  perver- 
ted, will  produce  misery  and  suffering.  God  has  not 


158  MODERN    FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

created  even  the  minutest  object  without  its  necessity 
to  the  fulfillment  of  some  definite  purpose,  which  is 
essential  to  the  enjoyment  of  his  creatures,  much 
less  has  he  endowed  man  with  those  superior  mental 
faculties,  which  alone  constitute  the  only  important 
distinction  between  him  and  the  lower  animals,  with- 
out each  distinct  faculty  having  an  agency  to  per- 
form, which  is  essential  to  his  welfare;  and  hence, 
it  follows  conclusively  that  man  can  attain  true  hap- 
piness only  by  the  harmonious  exercise  and  develop- 
ment of  all  the  faculties  of  his  mind,  and  that  the 
excessive  development  of  any  particular  order  of 
faculties,  while  the  proper  gratification  of  others  is 
neglected,  must  necessarily  destroy  the  equilibrium 
in  which  God  has  poised  the  scheme  of  human  hap- 
piness. Man  being  a  rational  being,  it  is  certain 
that,  in  order  to  attain  happiness,  his  moral  and  in- 
tellectual sentiments  must  be  maintained,  by  proper 
development  in  their  natural  supremacy,  over  his 
animal  propensities ;  but  if  by  the  neglect  of  the 
proper  moral  development,  and  by  the  intense  exer- 
cise of  his  selfish  or  animal  propensities,  this  order 
of  nature  is  reversed,  it  is  clear  that  the  rationality 
of  man  is  virtually  destroyed,  and  this  being  in  gross 
violation  of  the  laws  of  his  being,  wretchedness  and 
misery  must  consequently  ensue. 

Now,  the  pursuit  of  wealth  only  exercises  and  de- 
velops a  single  order  of  faculties,  consequently,  life 
must  necessarily  be  miserable  if  devoted  exclusively 
to  the  pursuit  of  wealth.  Man  is  thus  virtually 
transformed  into  a  being  endowed  with  a  single 
order  of  faculties,  instead  of  one  endowed  with  so 
many  varied  faculties,  which  being  properly  gratified 
and  developed,  become  so  many  different  sources  of 
pleasure.  But  this  is  not  its  worst  feature.  The 
undue  development  and  activity  of  the  lower  facul- 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE   OF  WEALTH.  159 

ties  or  propensities  are  much  more  productive  of  mis- 
ery, than  the  exclusive  development  of  the  higher 
faculties.  It  has  a  tendency  to  destroy  all  the 
nobler  motives  of  his  moral  nature,  and  instead  of 
being  urged  by  his  higher  rational  endowments  to 
seek  a  more  perfect  state  of  being,  he  yields  to  the 
impulses  of  his  selfish  propensities,  which  not  only 
defeat  his  own  happiness,  but  also  cause  him  to 
engage  in  efforts  which  have  a  tendency  to  destroy 
the  happiness  of  others,  in  the  vain  attempt  to  ob- 
tain the  means  to  gratify  his  perverted  propensities. 

Hence,  the  controlling  sentiment  of  the  age, 
which  has  a  tendency  quite  irresistible  to  force  every 
member  of  the  community  into  the  engrossing  pur- 
suit of  wealth,  as  the  exclusive  employment  of  life, 
produces  a  double  harvest  of  wretchedness  and  mis- 
ery; first,  by  the  undue  exercise  of  particular  facul- 
ties of  the  mind ;  and  secondly,  by  those  faculties 
being  the  lower  faculties  of  his  nature.  It  is.  there- 
fore, impossible  that  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  while  it 
is  made  the  sovereign  object  of  life,  as  at  present, 
can  be  made  the  basis  of  any  substantial  and  efficient 
moral  regeneration,  or  to  conduce  to  the  formation 
of  sterling  moral  sentiments  in  the  human  mind. 
As  long  as  wealth  is  invested  with  supreme  power  in 
society,  and  for  this  reason  monopolizes  human 
effort,  it  will  arouse  and  develop  into  controlling  ac- 
tion only  the  most  selfish  and  debasing  propensities 
of  human  nature. 

If  any  should  think  that  this  is  mere  idle  theory, 
let  us  refer  them  to  its  practical  effects  upon  the 
condition  of  man.  Let  us  refer  them  to  the  fact, 
that  amid  the  gay  revelry  of  excessive  wealth  abounds 
the  suffering  of  squalid  penury ;  that  amid  the  over- 
flowing granaries  of  wasteful  abundance,  unfortu- 
nate human  beings  suffer  and  die  of  utter  want  and 


160  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

neglect ;  that  millions  of  professing  Christians,  surfeit- 
ing in  superfluous  abundance,  cling  to  their  useless 
wealth  more  like  a  devil  than  a  Christian,  and  even 
exert  every  effort  to  accumulate  more  than  they  can 
use,  and  deprive  others  of  it  who  are  suffering  for 
its  want ;  and  then  hypocritically  address  their 
prayers  to  heaven,  while  they  are  surrounded  by 
hungry  orphan  children,  distressed  mothers  and 
widows,  and  unfortunate  fellow-beings,  all  suffering 
of  utter  want,  and  to  whom  the  smallest  portion  of 
their  superfluity  would  bring  gladness  and  comfort ; 
yet  they  act  as  though  the  Christian  religion  consisted 
in  praying  like  a  saint  and  acting  like  a  devil ;  and  let 
us  refer  them  to  the  fact,  that  the  star  of  human 
progress  is  wading  through  oceans  of  human  blood ; 
and  that  the  rejoicing  of  civilized  man  is  continually 
mingling  with  the  waitings  of  suffering  humanity. 

Why  is  this  ?  Is  it  because  God  has  doomed  man 
to  unavoidable  misery?  Is  human  suffering  the 
necessary  result  of  the  works  of  God,  or  is  it  the 
unnecessary  result  of  human  conduct?  All  this  is 
because  the  exclusive  pursuit  of  wealth  perverts  the 
rationality  of  man,  and  develops  his  selfish  or  ani- 
mal propensities  into  controlling  activity ;  and  thus 
his  conduct  is  controlled  by  his  animal  nature,  rather 
than  by  his  moral  or  rational  nature ;  and  as  the  mas- 
ter brute,  by  means  of  his  greater  strength,  drives 
the  less  favored  animal  away  from  its  last  morsel  of 
food,  and  gorges  his  stomach  to  that  extent  which 
causes  him  to  suffer  misery,  even  though  his  fellow 
brute  should  suffer  for  the  want  of  it ;  so  the  human 
animal,  (we  can  not  help  it,)  by  means  of  his  greater 
mental  and  physical  strength,  accumulates  useless 
wealth,  and  often  deprives  his  less  favored  fellow- 
being  of  his  last  means  of  comfortable  existence,  only 
to  over-gorge  himself  with  wealth,  which  certainly 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  161 

can  not  add  to  his  own  happiness;  and  like  the  ox, 
he  slobbers  over  and  wastes  what  he  can  not  use,  and 
drives  away  his  poor  starving  comrades,  and  with 
just  about  as  much  sympathy  for  their  sufferings. 

Nothing  is  more  frequently  proved  by  the  experi- 
ence of  real  life,  than  the  utter  incapacity  of  excessive 
wealth  to  confer  upon  its  possessor  the  substantial 
enjoyments  of  true  happiness,  and  the  only  pleasures 
which  it  affords,  consist  in  the  gratification  of  ac- 
quired wants,  which  are  always  armed  with  the 
stings  of  misery  and  suffering.  We  almost  always 
find  anxiety  and  peace-destroying  care  and  solici- 
tude associated  with  excessive  wealth.  These  are 
its  inseparable  companions ;  they  steal  into  its 
downy  beds ;  its  rich  mansions  and  palaces ;  and 
wherever  wealth  spreads  its  illusory  pleasures,  there 
they  hold  their  revels.  Thank  God,  man  is  endowed 
with  nobler  attributes  than  to  be  rendered  perma- 
nently happy  by  the  gratification  of  such  base  and 
sordid  passions.  He  can  enjoy  true  happiness  only 
as  the  reward  of  the  harmonious  gratification  and 
development  of  all  the  faculties  and  sentiments  of 
his  mind. 

In  penning  the  foregoing  reflections,  we  have  been 
obliged  to  represent  the  present  state  of  society  in  a 
light  which  we  could  have  sincerely  wished  to  avoid, 
but  we  have  been  conducted  to  these  conclusions  by 
principles  and  facts  which  we  believed  to  be  found- 
ed in  truth,  and  which,  therefore,  the  smiles  or 
frowns  of  men  could  not  induce  us  to  knowingly 
conceal  or  misrepresent.  The  very  fountains  of 
human  happiness  are  poisoned  by  the  perverted 
passions  and  propensities  of  human  nature.  True 
virtue  consists  in  the  proper  gratification  of  every 
faculty  and  sentiment  with  which  God  has  endowed 
humaii  nature,  and  this  only  can  confer  the  real 

14 


162  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

pleasures  and  enjoyments  of  life,  unembittered  by 
the  trials  and  sufferings  which  afflict  humanity,  and 
which  result  entirely  from  the  improper  gratification 
of  natural  endowments. 

Far,  indeed,  has  man  departed  from  this  path.  In 
the  dark  ages  of  his  existence,  he  has  been  controlled 
by  more  blood-thirsty  and  savage  passions,  but  in  no 
period  of  receding  time,  has  the  human  mind  been 
controlled  by  a  passion  which  exerts  a  more  corrupt- 
ing influence  over  the  purest  and  noblest  emotions 
and  sentiments  of  the  human  soul,  than  that  from 
which  he  is  suffering  at  present.  It  is  true,  that  civ- 
ilization has  much  elevated  the  condition  of  man,  but 
it  is  also  true,  that  as  it  has  conferred  upon  him  many 
blessings  which  were  unknown  to  him  in  his  savage 
state,  it  has  also  brought  upon  him  many  curses, 
which"  he  knew  not  there.  The  lower  grades  of 
human  beings  who  burrow  in  the  filthy  abodes  of 
poverty,  in  those  places  where  civilization  has  made 
its  farthest  advance,  have  reached  a  lower  degree 
of  misery  and  degradation,  than  has  yet  been  reach- 
ed by  the  savage  man,  when  uncontaminated  by 
the  vices  of  civilization.  But  it  is  not  the  necessary 
result  of  civilization,  that  it  should  bring  these  wither- 
ing curses  upon  a  large  portion  of  its  subjects ;  but 
it  is,  because  it  is  practically  wedded  to  an  unholy 
and  debasing  passion,  and  this  result  is  the  monster 
offspring. 

But,  while  most  persons  will,  perhaps,  freely  ac- 
knowledge that  the  social  systems  of  the  age  are  cor- 
rupted and  perverted  by  the  undue  influence  of  wealth, 
all  will  anxiously  inquire,  how  is  society  to  be  re- 
deemed from  this  servitude,  and  how  are  the  conse- 
quent evils  to  be  averted  ?  The  means  by  which  this 
social  revolution  is  to  be  effected  have  been  repeat- 
edly indicated  in  the  preceding  pages ;  a  revolution 


UNDUE  INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  163 

unstained  by  human  blood,  and  from  which  will  result 
to  mankind  more  permanent  benefits  than  have  re- 
sulted from  all  the  sanguinary  political  revolutions, 
which  have  ever  been  effected  by  means  of  the  sword 
and  bayonet.  That  power  is  true  virtue  and  morality, 
founded  upon  the  basis  of  human  nature,  with  all  its 
natural  attributes  properly  developed,  arid  each  one 
performing  its  proper  functions  in  the  control  of 
human  conduct.  The  utter  failure  of  the  existing 
moral  and  religious  systems  to  redeem  man  from  the 
control  of  his  perverted  propensities,  and  to  bring 
into  controlling  action  his  moral  sentiments,  proves 
conclusively  that  these  systems  are  not  adapted  to 
the  system  of  human  nature.  They  have  failed,  be- 
cause the  real  nature  of  the  faculties  and  powers  of 
the  human  mind  are  not  understood,  and  while  the 
mental  exercises  and  efforts  of  man,  which  alone  de- 
velop his  faculties,  are  such  as  bring  into  controlling 
action  only  his  propensities,  and  pervert  his  moral 
nature,  they  attempt  to  counteract  the  effects  which 
follow,  by  mere  talking  and  preaching,  thus  attempting 
to  prevent  an  effect  without  removing  the  cause.  Hence 
man  can  never  become  a  truly  moral  and  virtuous 
being  under  the  influences  which  at  present  prevail. 
Many  sincere  and  excellent  persons  maintain  that 
the  inherent  frailty  and  depravity  of  human  nature 
will  for  ever  prevent  the  mass  of  mankind  from  attain- 
ing that  state  of  exalted  virtue  and  morality  which 
it  is  the  object  of  this  work  to  demonstrate — that  the 
natural  endowments  of  man,  if  properly  cultivated, 
will  enable  hi-m  to  reach.  And,  indeed,  the  retros- 
pect of  human  action,  as  it  has  been  displayed  in  all 
ages  of  the  world,  and  also  his  present  condition 
would  seem  to  establish  this  discouraging  conclusion. 
But  this  view  is  certainly  erroneous.  As  already 


164  MODERN"  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

shown,  if  man  be  inherently  and  necessarily  depraved, 
we  can  not  avoid  attributing  malevolent  designs  to 
his  Creator.  But  if  we  form  a  more  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  man  himself,  and  thus  ascertain  the  real 
nature  and  designs  of  his  natural  attributes,  we  shall 
find  they  are  perfectly  adapted  to  the  conditions  of 
his  earthly  situation,  and  all  that  he  has  to  do  to 
avoid  misery  and  suffering,  and  enjoy  happiness,  is 
to  comply  with  these  conditions,  which  he  may  easily 
do;  then,  if  we  consider  the  manner  in  which  he  has 
violated  the  conditions  of  nature,  and  perverted  and 
abused  his  own  attributes,  we  shall  be  at  no  loss  to 
account  for  the  suffering  and  depravity  of  mankind. 
Hence  human  depravity  is  not  an  inherent  quality 
of  human  nature,  but  results  entirely  from  human 
conduct ;  and,  therefore,  all  that  man  has  to  do  to 
overcome  this  depravity  is  to  conform  his  conduct  to 
the  requirements  of  his  nature. 

When  we  thus  arrive  at  a  correct  and  complete 
understanding  of  human  nature,  and  then  study  the 
history  of  man's  acts,  we  discover  that  he  has,  in  all 
ages,  been  engaged  in  continual  efforts  to  defeat  the  de- 
signs of  his  own  creation,  and  it  amounts  to  precisely 
this,  that  man  has  been  in  a  state  of  warfare  with  his 
Creator  during  the  whole  period  of  human  existence, 
and  the  first  act  of  hostilities  was  committed  upon 
the  part  of  man,  when  he  ate  of  the  forbidden  fruit 
in  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  every  vicious  and  immoral 
act  that  he  has  since  committed  has  been  an  act  of 
hostility  upon  the  part  of  man.  But  this  warfare 
has  raged,  with  more  or  less  violence,  in  different 
periods  of  time,  according  as  the  acts  of  man  have 
been  more  or  less  vicious,  and  the  desolations  of 
Nineveh,  of  Babylon,  of  Tyre,  and  all  those  fallen 
places  whose  ruins  indicate  the  last  degree  of  human 


UNDUE    INFLUENCE  OP  WEALTH.          165 

depravity,  only  mark  the  battle-fields  upon  which 
the  opposing  parties  have  tried  their  strength  in  this 
struggle  of  six  thousand  years'  duration. 

Alas,  how  fatally  has  the  struggle  resulted  with 
man.  All  his  earthly  suffering  and  misery  are  the 
fruits  of  his  defeat.  Yet  there  is  no  vindictiveness 
upon  the  part  of  his  Creator,  He  established  the 
laws  of  nature  when  He  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
heavens  and  the  earth;  if  man  obey  them  he  is 
happy,  if  he  violate  them  he  is  miserable ;  he  is  a 
^rational  being  and  a  free  agent ;  he  can  ascertain 
these  laws,  and  shape  his  own  conduct.  But  this 
ruinous  struggle  must  continue  as  long  as  man  is 
ignorant  of  his  own  nature,  and  ignorantly  or  wil- 
fully violates  the  laws  which  govern  him,  as  a  natural 
being,  and  considers  their  regular  and  fearful  opera- 
tions as  the  mysterious  and  inscrutable  dispensa- 
tions of  Providence. 

Nothing  can  be  more  obvious  than  the  cause  of 
human  suffering  and  misery,  and  also  their  remedy, 
if  we  properly  investigate  the  attributes  of  human 
nature,  and  also  their  relation  to  external  objects 
and  circumstances.  We  shall  discover  that  misery 
and  suffering  result  from  the  natural  laws,  which  gov- 
ern these  attributes,  operating  upon  the  circum- 
stances and  conditions  which  are  produced  by  human 
conduct.  For  instance,  if  a  person  devote  all  his 
energies  to  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  or  any  other 
vicious  course  of  life,  this  is  not  the  result  of  any 
natural  law,  or  other  divine  institution,  but  it  is  a 
circumstance  or  condition  which  is  produced  entirely 
by  the  conduct  of  that  person,  and  being  in  violation 
of  the  laws  which  govern  human  nature,  the  suffering 
and  misery  which  ensue  are  the  effects  of  the  nat- 
ural laws  operating  upon  fhese  circumstances.  Now, 
as  these  circumstances  and  conditions  are  produced 


166  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

by  human  action,  it  is  evident,  that  if  man  act  con- 
trary to  the  requirements  of  his  nature,  he  will  be 
miserable ;  but  if  he  act  in  accordance  with  them,  he 
will  be  happy,  and  hence  the  harmonious  gratifica- 
tion and  development  of  all  the  faculties  of  the 
mind,  the  moral  and  intellectual  sentiments  maintain- 
ing their  natural  supremacy  over  the  animal  pro- 
pensities, are  the  only  means  by  which  permanent 
happiness  can  be  enjoyed. 

Let  us  now  apply  these  general  principles  to  the 
particular  evils  resulting  from  the  exclusive  pursuit 
of  wealth.  We  have  shown  that  it  brings  into  undue 
action  the  mere  propensities  of  our  nature,  and  per- 
verts the  moral  and  intellectual  sentiments,  which 
reverses  the  scheme  of  nature,  and  therefore  must, 
necessarily,  defeat  our  happiness,  and  cause  misery 
and  suffering.  But  as  the  means  which  constitute 
wealth  are  essential  to  the  existence  of  civilized 
society  and  to  the  enjoyment  of  life,  how  are  we 
to  enjoy  these  blessings,  and  yet  avoid  the  evils 
which  result  from  its  exclusive  pursuit  and  exces- 
sive accumulation?  Can  we  not  enjoy  its  uses  with- 
out incurring  its  abuses  ?  -This  certainly  can  be  done, 
but  it  can  be  done  only  by  divesting  wealth  of  the 
undue  power  which  it  exercises  in  society.  Man 
must  have  some  other  mode  of  gratifying  the  native 
ambition  of  his  mind;  there  must  be  some  other 
way  provided,  besides  the  excessive  accumulation 
of  wealth,  by  which  the  mass  of  mankind  may  be- 
come respectable  in  society.  Human  action  must 
be  directed  to  the  accomplishment  of  a  higher  and 
a  nobler  purpose.  Instead  of  pursuing  a  glittering 
and  illusory  phantom,  which  seduces  all  the  nobler 
qualities  of  his  nature,  he  must  be  induced  to  seek 
his  true  happiness  by  the  road  which  nature  has  pre- 
pared. 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OP  WEALTH.  167 

But  how?  Simply  by  placing  things  upon  their 
proper  basis,  and  giving  them  their  true  value  in  the 
estimate  of  public  sentiment.  The  practice  of  vir- 
tue must  become  the  employment  of  life,  and  conse- 
quently wealth  must  be  sought  only  so  far  as  it 
can  contribute  to  the  natural  wants  of  man.  But  in 
order  to  effect  this,  the  practice  of  virtue  must  be 
the  only  road  which  leads  to  high  social  position,  and 
the  only  means  by  which  man  can  obtain  the  confi- 
dence and  respect  of  his  fellow-man,, and  virtue  jnust 
be  the  sole  dispenser  of  the  rewards  and  benefits  of 
society.  Then,  as  man  can  secure  those  favors,  and 
reach  that  position  in  society  which  he  most  desires, 
and  which  must  always  be  the  object  of  human  effort, ' 
only  by  the  practice  of  virtue,  and,  as  wealth  will 
be  deprived  of  its  crushing  power  and  undue  influ- 
ence in  society,  he  will  be  compelled  to  practice 
virtue,  if  not  for  the  love  of  it,  at  least  as  a  ne- 
cessity, and  thus  man  will"  be  rescued  from  the  mas- 
tery of  his  animal  propensities,  and  bring  into  con- 
trolling vigor  and  action  the  higher  sentiments  of 
his  nature,  and  become  a  rational  and  moral  being, 
in  fact,  as  well  as  in  theory. 

Why  not  ?  Is  it  indispensable  to  the  organization 
of  civilized  society  that  wealth  must  be  invested 
with  this  predominant  power?  If  the  natural  attri- 
butes of  man  are  such  that  he  may  become  a  rational 
and  moral  being,  and  really  act  as  such,  may  he 
not  be  induced  to  pursue  wealth  only  so  far  as  it 
contributes  to  the  real  enjoyments  of  life,  and  to 
his  own  true  interests?  In  order  to  become  civ- 
ilized, must  he  necessarily  become  the  slave  of 
wealth?  Can  not  the  social  fabric  be  so  constructed 
that  it  may  become  the  happy  abode  of  civilized 
man,  and  not  be  merely  the  imposing  edifice  which 
conceals  so  much  unnecessary  misery  and  suffering  ? 


168  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

The  views  of  human  nature  which  we  have  been 
endeavoring  to  present,  refute  such  an  idea.  The 
very  fact  that  human  efforts,  which  are  within  them- 
selves essentially  vicious,  secure  to  their  perpetra- 
tors higher  social  positions,  provided  that  thereby 
they  obtain  additional  wealth,  unmistakably  indicates 
a  state  of  society  which  is  perniciously  false.  Why 
is  it  that  persons  can  commit  acts  which  should  make 
the  devil  blush,  and  still  retain  a  respectable  position 
in  society,  provided  he  is  possessed  of  unnecessary 
wealth,  while  another  person  may  practice  acts  of 
virtue  which  would  make  an  angel  smile,  and  yet  be 
excluded  from  the  circles  of  our  "  best  society,"  if 
his  deeds  of  love  have  prevented  him  from  accumu- 
lating wealth  ?  Why  does  society  thus  favor  wealthy 
viciousness  and  spurn  moneyless  virtue  ? 

It  is  because  it  is  falsely  constituted,  and  has  in- 
vested the  possession  of  wealth  with  that  influence 
which  legitimately  belongs  to  the  practice  of  virtue; 
and  consequently  men  must  worship  -the  popular  idol 
in  order  to  become  respectable.  It  should  be  the 
founding  principle  of  society  that  every  person  who 
violates  the  principles  of  natural  virtue  is  morally 
dishonest,  and  though  he  were  the  possessor  of  un- 
told millions  of  gold,  he  should  be  spurned  as  a 
human  viper  from  the  society  of  virtuous  and  honest 
men.  When  this  shall  be  done,  men  can  no  longer 
reach  position  and  respectability  in  society  by  out- 
raging virtue  and  even  common  honesty  at  every 
step,  and  human  happiness  will  no  longer  be  defeated 
by  human  effort,  and  it  will  no  longer  be  necessary 
for  persons  to  forfeit  all  the  rational  enjoyments  of 
life,  and  sell  their  souls  to  the  devil,  in  order  to 
become  respectable  in  the  sight  of  men. 

This  social  revolution  can  be  effected  only  by  en- 
hancing the  value  of  moral  conduct  in  the  public 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  169 

estimate  of  private  character,  and  by  correcting  that 
vitiated  public  sentiment  which  so  unduly  rewards 
the  possession  of  wealth.  It  can  never  be  effected 
by  the  present  systems  of  moral  and  religious  in- 
struction. The  radical  defect  of  the  teaching  and 
preaching  of  the  present  day  is  that  it  attempts  to 
prevent  an  effect  without  removing  the  cause,  and 
consequently  must  necessarily  be  unsuccessful.  The 
cause  of  wealth  being  so  exclusively  sought  in  the 
present  age  is  the  undue  importance  which  society 
attaches  to  its  possession,  while  sufficient  importance 
is  not  attached  to  the  practice  of  virtue,  the  effect  is 
that  the  members  of  society  make  the  accumulation 
of  wealth  the  principal  object  of  life,  while  they 
neglect  the  practice  of  virtue.  Now,  all  must  admit 
that  this  effect  can  be  prevented  only  by  removing 
the  cause ;  yet,  we  are  not  aware  of  the  existence 
of  any  system  of  religion  or  education  which  is  level- 
ing its  batteries  at  the  real  stronghold  of  the  enemy, 
and  making  a  consistent  effort  to  divest  wealth  of  its 
undue  influence  in  society.  Our  schools,  in  effect, 
only  teach  the  students  the  value  of  dollars  and 
dimes.  Thus  those  who  are  educated  become  only 
more  intelligent  money-seekers,  and  more  effectually 
increase  the  evils  by  being  enabled  to  accumulate 
larger  amounts  of  wealth. 

And  even  in  the  church,  where  worldly  motives 
should  be  thrown  aside,  the  love  of  wealth,  if  any 
difference,  prevails  more  intensely  than  in  the  non- 
professing  world,  and  no  consistent  efforts  are  made 
to  overthrow  the  unjust  distinctions  which  are  made 
on  account  of  wealth.  The  wealthy  member  of  church 
is  more  respected  by  his  fellow-members  than  is  the 
more  pious,  but  more  humble  brother.  How  dis- 
couraging is  the  fact  that  in  those  countries  which 
are  professedly  the  most  Christian,  the  love  of  wealth, 
15 


170  MODERN  FANCIES  AND   FOLLIES. 

together  with  its  resulting  evils,  prevail  most  in- 
tensely. This  is  not  the  fault  of  the  religion,  but  of 
its  professors.  While  their  professions  are  sufficiently 
orthodox,  their  actions  are  in  violation  of  the  most 
important  precepts  of  the  Bible.  They  devote  their 
talk  to  religion,  and  their  earnest  acts  to  the  accu- 
mulation of  wealth.  The  preachers  may  tell  us  that 
this  is  very  wrong,  but  there  is  no  danger  of  being 
"  churched  "  for  making  the  accumulation  of  wealth 
the  exclusive  object  of  life,  if  we  only  profess  ortho- 
dox doctrines  while  we  are  about  it.  The  education 
and  religion  of  the  day  only  intensify  the  evils  which 
we  would  remedy;  yet  the  schools  and  the  churches, 
themselves  reformed,  must  be  enlisted  in  the  work  of 
true  reformation.  They  create  public  sentiment,  and 
shape  the  virtue  and  morality  of  the  age.  There  the 
oppressive  power  of  wealth  must  be  first  attacked, 
and  the  undue  distinctions  founded  upon  wealth  lev- 
eled down,  and  true  piety  and  virtue  made  the  test  of 
vespect  and  position.  Unless  this  can  be  done,  the 
cause  .of  humanity  is  hopeless,  and  man  must  con- 
tinue to  suffer  misery  and  woe  as  the  consequences 
of  his  own  actions. 

When  those .  who  are  professedly  moral  and  re- 
ligious persons  shall  become  practically  so,  in  regard 
to  the  excessive  accumulation  of  wealth,  then  will  it 
be  divested  of  its  power,  and  the  efforts  of  men 
diverted  from  its  exclusive  pursuit,  and  directed  to 
the  pursuit  of  true  happiness  by  the  practice  of  vir- 
tue, and  human  society  will  at  last  be  placed  upon 
the  solid  foundation  of  nature,  and  man  will  derive 
pleasure  from  the  proper  gratification  of  all  his 
natural  endowments,  and  suffer  misery  from  the  per- 
version of  none.  Then  will  man  become  respectable 
only  by  becoming  virtuous,  and  wealthy  rascality  and 
fashionable  viciousness  will  no  longer  be  paraded  in 


UNDUE   INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH.  171 

the  circles  of  our  "best  society,"  while  humble,  hon- 
est virtue  is  trailing  in  the  dust.  Then  will  true 
virtue  assume  the  supreme  control  of  human  action, 
and,  enlisting  in  her  service  all  the  purest  affections 
of  the  human  heart,  and  all  the  noblest  endowments 
of  human  nature,  man  will  achieve  his  highest  des- 
tiny. Arouse  ye,  whose  hearts  throb  for  others  woes, 
and  burst  asunder  the  golden  fetters  which  are 
festering  in  the  flesh  of  humanity.  Be  not  idle  while 
the  wailings  of  misery  and  suffering  are  heard  in  all 
the  habitations  of  man,  and  even  now  the  golden 
vulture  is  preying  upon  his  human  victims.  Far 
beyond  the  shores  of  time,  lies  open  before  the 
Eternal  Throne,  the  book  of  life,  in  which  is  faith- 
fully recorded  all  the  follies  and  vices  of  man,  which 
will  glare  in  all  their  hideous  deformity,  when  they 
are  divested  of  their  earthly  garbs,  amid  the  celestial 
brightness  which  surrounds  the  throne  of  the  Om- 
nicient  Father. 


r-  >;:-r. .-, 


• 


ESSAY  III. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL  READING. 

AMONG  the  many  evils  of  the  present  age,  which 
are  sapping  the  fountains  of  morality,  polluting  the 
sources  of  virtue  and  public  spirit,  and  communica- 
ting their  pernicious  effects  to  the  family  circle,  and 
thus  instilling  their  poison  into  the  budding  mind 
of  youth,  and  implanting  in  that  fertile  and  unsown 
soil  a  pernicious  seed,  which  will  take  deep  root 
there,  and  overshadow  and  destroy  the  less  rank, 
but  more  fruitful  plants,  of  substantial  mental  cul- 
ture, Novel  Reading  demands  our  most  serious  at- 
tention. While  every  other  evil  in  the  dark  cata- 
logue of  human  folly  receives  its  due  share  of 
labored  denunciation  from  the  monitors  of  our  pub- 
lic and  private  virtue  and  morality,  this  stands  forth 
sanctioned  by  persons  of  high  social  and  moral  po- 
sition, indorsed  by  fashion,  sanctioned  by  religion, 
or  rather  by  persons  making  high  profession  of  re- 
ligion, encouraged  by  parents,  and  recommended  by 
the  public  press. 

But  powerful  as  these  incentives  are  to  the  spread 
of  this  evil,  they  are  of  minor  importance  when  we 
consider  its  most  efficient  promoter,  that  is,  that 
Novel  Reading  is  one  of  the  principal  sources  of 
amusement  of  so  large  a  portion  of  the  community. 
Of  all  the  forms  which  vice  and  folly  ever  assumed 
to  assail  and  captivate  the  unwary  human  mind, 
(172) 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL  READING.    173 

none  are  so  successful,  or  fraught  with  such  per- 
nicious consequences,  as  when  they  clothe  them- 
selves in  the  attractive  and  fascinating  garb  of 
pleasure  and  amusement.  When  the  amusements 
of  a  people  are  impure,  when  they  contain  vicious 
principles,  which  attack,  silently  and  unobserved, 
the  moral  fortifications  which  the  patriot  and  the 
philanthropist  are  continually  erecting  to  guard  the 
virtue  and  morality  of  the  people,  when  the  unsus- 
pecting, simple  mind  of  youth  imbibes  a  pernicious 
principle,  or  a  false  idea,  in  the  exhilarating  draughts 
of  its  amusement,  at  moments  Avhen  all  the  avenues 
which  lead  to  the  soul  are  opened  by  the  flow  of 
generous  feeling,  so  that  the  glittering  monster  may 
enter,  silently  and  unobserved,  and  stain  its  unsullied 
purity,  then,  indeed,  are  the  sterling  virtues  of  the 
mind  assailed  in  a  most  vulnerable  point,  and  sur- 
rounded by  hidden  dangers  armed  with  the  most 
potent  energies. 

There  is  nothing  which  conduces  more  to  a  sound 
morality,  and  a  healthy  public  sentiment,  than  amuse- 
ment, the  sources  of  which  are  kept  pure  and  un- 
deh'led,  and  from  which  every  false  principle  and 
infectious  influence  are  scrupulously  eradicated ;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  if  the  source  of  amusement  is  the 
source  of  vice,  and  it  convey  to  the  mind,  in  a 
pleasing  and  attractive  form,  unsound  teachings, 
and  unreal  and  exaggerated  views  of  human  nature, 
and  of  all  the  various  shades  and  phases  of  human 
existence,  the  mind  eagerly  receives  the  false  im- 
pressions, and,  it  being  intoxicated  by  the  exciting 
draught,  the  teachings  of  substantial  truth  gain  no 
entrance.  That  must  necessarily  be  a  low  state  of 
virtue  and  morality  which  is  founded  upon  such  a 
basis.  In  truth,  the  public  sentiment  of  a  commu- 
nity ia  exalted  or  debased,  in  a  great  measure,  as 


174  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

the  amusement  of  the  people  inculcates  the  maxims 
of  truth,  and  the  integrity  of  moral  character,  or 
forms  the  public  mind  upon  false  and  exaggerated 
images  of  nature,  and  of  actual  existence,  unfounded 
either  in  the  true  theory  or  virtuous  practice  of  real 
life. 

As  Novel  Reading  is  a  principal  source  of  amuse- 
ment, especially  among  the  young,  and  as  there ^are 
so  many  powerful  causes  which  conspire  to  render 
it  a  popular,  and,  as  it  is  thought,  an  innocent  and 
useful  amusement,  and  as  it,  therefore,  directly  af- 
fects the  most  serious  duties  of  life,  and  exerts  a 
controlling  influence  for  good,  or  for  evil,  upon  the 
welfare  and  happiness  of  humanity,  let  us  candidly 
and  seriously  inquire  into  the  nature  and  results 
of  this  influence.  Whatever  this  influence  may  be, 
it  enters  largely  into  the  social  atmosphere  of  the 
fireside,  and  there  impresses  its  own  features  upon 
the  maturing  mind  of  youth,  while  fashion  deeply 
quaffs,  in  idle  hours,  its  exciting  draughts,  and  even 
professed  religion  has  no  hesitancy  in  devouring  the 
enticing  page.  If  there  be  evil  consequences  result- 
ing from  it,  it  is  certainly  of  the  utmost  importance 
that  they  should  be  correctly  appreciated  by  the 
public,  for  being  so  intimately  interwoven  into  all 
the  relations  of  life,  and  thus  affecting  every  age, 
sex,  and  condition,  its  influence  silently  and  quite 
unrebuked,  but  insidiously,  works  out  its  evil  results, 
while  the  mind,  unaware  of  being  assailed,  reposes 
in  fancied  security,  and  caresses  the  exciting  images 
of  the  romance,  until  it  unconsciously  becomes  the 
victim  of  an  invincible,  vicious  habit. 

The  first  objection  to  Novel  Reading  Avhich  we 
shall  notice  is,  that  it  affects,  in  a  peculiar  manner, 
the  mind  of  man.  It  is  exclusively  an  employment 
of  the  mind,  and  consequently  if  there  are  any  evil 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL   READING.  175 

results  connected  with  it,  they  do  not  affect  merely 
the  mortal  man,  but  they  affect  the  immortal  mind, 
the  living,  eternal  principle  of  man.  The  reason, 
intelligence,  and  judgment  of  man  constitute  the 
difference  between  rational  and  irrational  or  brute 
beings.  This  reason,  intelligence,  and  judgment 
are  the  results  of  the  exercise  and  development 
of  the  faculties  with  which  the  human  mind  is  en- 
dowed, consequently  man  has  neither  reason,  intel- 
ligence, or  judgment  at  the  time  of  his  birth.  But 
these  qualities  are  not  only  formed  by  the  exercise 
and  development  of  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  but 
this  exercise  and  development  impress  their  own 
character  upon  these  qualities,  consequently  the 
reason,  intelligence,  and  judgment  of  man  will  be 
true  or  false,  virtuous  or  vicious,  according  as  the 
faculties  of  the  mind  have  been  exercised  and  devel- 
oped by  the  acquisition  of  truth  and  the  practice 
of  virtue,  or  by  the  acquisition  of  error  and  the 
practice  of  vice.  For  this  reason  it  entirely  accords 
with  the  experience  and  observation  of  life,  that  if 
persons  have  been  taught  false  principles,  or  the 
faculties  of  their  minds  have  been  developed  by  the 
practice  of  vice,  the  operations  of  their  reason,  in- 
telligence, and  judgment  are  very  sure  to  lead  them 
into  the  practice  of  error  and  vice,  and,  on  the  con- 
trary, those  who  have  been  taught  the  principles 
of  truth  and  virtue,  their  reason,  intelligence,  and 
judgment  will  lead  them  to  the  practice  of  truth 
and  virtue. 

The  character  of  the  mind  being  thus  determined 
by  the  exercise  and  development  of  its  faculties,  let 
us  consider,  whether  the  false  and  exaggerated  imi- 
tations of  life  and  nature  usually  contained  in  novels 
are  suitable  materials  for  forming  the  reason,  intelli- 
gence, and  judgment  of  a  rational  being.  A  novel  is 


176  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

the  narration  of  a  train  of  fictitious  incidents  and  cir- 
cumstances, generally  in  imitation  of  the  most  thril- 
ling and  unusual  events  of  human  life,  and  highly 
colored  and  exaggerated  by  the  fancy  and  imagina- 
tion of  the  writer.  Its  interest  consists  in  its  exag- 
geration and  false  coloring,  or  else,  why  not  relate 
actual  events,  and  the  true  history  of  man,  and  the 
incidents  of  actual  life,  by  portraying  human  nature 
as  it  is  manifested  in  the  transactions  of  real  life, 
which,  if  the  exaggeration  were  not  the  great  inter- 
est in  novels,  would  be  equally  interesting  to  novel 
readers,  and  at  the  same  time  convey  useful  instruc- 
tion and  correct  knowledge  of  life,  as  it  actually  ex- 
ists. This  exaggeration  and  false  coloring  consists  in 
overdrawn  pictures  of  life,  and  false  views  of  human 
nature,  drawn  in  the  narration  of  fictitious  circum- 
stances and  incidents,  the  like  of  which  seldom  or 
never  did  or  can  occur  in  real  life,  and  therefore,  the 
knowledge  and  principles  derived  from  Novel  Read- 
ing are  false,  and  therefore  vicious. 

But,  as  already  shown,  this  knowledge  and  these 
principles  impress  their  own  character  upon  the  mind 
and  really  form  the  reason,  intelligence,  and  judg- 
ment of  man,  and  hence  it  follows  that  the  reason, 
intelligence  and  judgment  of  man  thus  formed  are 
false,  and  will  therefore  lead  him  into  error  and  vice. 
If  man's  intelligence  be  innate  arid  uninfluenced  by 
the  discipline  of  the  mind,  then  he  is  endowed  only 
with  a  high  order  of  instinct,  and  no  mental  exercise 
or  cultivation  of  his  own  can  have  any  influence 
whatever  upon  his  reason,  his  intelligence,  or  his  judg- 
ment. And  again,  if  these  mental  qualities  are  not 
influenced  and  determined  by  the  character  of  the 
exercise  and  cultivation  of  the  faculties  of  the  mind, 
then  the  question  of  vice  and  virtue  does  not  depend 
upon  human  conduct,  and  it  can  make  no  difference, 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL  READING.  177 

whether  the  youthful  mind  be  virtuously  or  viciously 
educated.  But  every  experience  of  life  proves  that 
neither  of  these  can  be  the  case,  therefore  the  facul- 
ties of  the  mind  are  developed  by  exercise,  and  the 
nature  of  the  exercise  determines  the  character  of 
the  mind.  As  the  reason,  intelligence  and  judgment 
of  man  are  thus  determined  by  the  exercise  of  the 
mental  faculties,  and  as  Novel  Reading  is  exclusively 
an  exercise  of  the  mental  faculties,  and  as  it  conveys 
to  the  mind  none  of  that  correct  and  substantial 
knowledge  which  is  essential  to  the  proper  discharge 
of  the  practical  duties  of  life,  but  on  the  contrary 
stores  it  with  false  principles  and  impracticable  and 
exaggerated  views  of  life  and  nature,  it  follows 
that  it  exerts  a  most  pernicious  influence  upon  those 
qualities  of  the  mind  which  constitute  the  rationality 
of  man. 

But  it  will  be  said  that  novels  are  not  read  for  in- 
struction or  improvement,  but  merely  for  amusement 
and  pastime.  Neither  do  persons  engage  in  any 
vice  or  folly  for  instruction  or  improvement,  yet  their 
influences  are  engrafted  upon  the  mind.  For  the 
very  reason  that  it  is  an  amusement,  as,  already 
shown,  it  is  armed  with  more  potent  dangers.  Every 
exercise  of  the  mental  faculties  has  its  influence  in 
developing  the  mind,  and  the  exercise  is  not  by  any 
means  deprived  of  its  influence  because  it  is  pleasing 
and  attractive.  The  mind  of  man  may  be  aptly  com- 
pared to  the  soil  of  the  earth.  As  the  different  por- 
tions of  the  earthly  soil  are  of  different  degrees  of 
fertility,  so  is  the  mental  soil  of  the  different  faculties 
of  the  same  mind,  and  of  different  minds,  of  different 
degrees  of  fertility.  As  the  most  fertile  soil  pro- 
duces the  rankest  weeds  if  not  under  the  careful  cul- 
ture of  the  husbandman,  so  the  strongest  and  most 

' 


178  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

vigorous  minds  produce  the  rankest  vices  and  follies, 
if  they  are  not  properly  cultivated. 

If  the  husbandman  sow  precious  seeds  in  the  soil, 
he  will  reap  a  harvest  of  useful  grain  and  fruits ;  so 
if  the  seeds  of  true  virtue  and  morality  be  sown  in 
the  soil  of  the  mind,  and  properly  cultivated,  it  will 
produce  an  abundant  harvest  of  usefulness  and  hap- 
piness. If  the  soil  of  the  earth  be  neglected,  it  will 
be  overgrown  with  briars  and  brambles;  so,  if  the 
soil  of  the  mind  be  neglected,  it  will  be  overgrown 
with  the  brambles  of  ignorance  and  superstition.  If 
the  husbandman  scatter  tares  upon  the  earth,  he 
shall  reap  a  harvest  of  tares ;  so  in  the  mind ;  if  you 
sow  the  seeds  of  exaggeration  and  fiction,  you  will 
reap  a  harvest  of  error  and  falsehood.  As  it  is 
sown  so  shall  you  reap.  The  soil  of  the  earth  does 
not  more  invariably  produce  that  in  kind,  which  is 
sown,  than  does  the  soil  of  the  mind.  If  useful 
facts  and  the  principles  of  truth  be  implanted  in  the 
mind,  it  will  produce  an  abundant  harvest  of  that 
substantial  knowledge,  which  is  absolutely  essential 
to  sound  reason,  intelligence,  and  judgment;  and  just 
as  inevitably  as  tares  produce  tares  in  the  soil  of  the 
earth,  do  the  seeds  of  false  principles  and  immoral- 
ity planted  in  the  soil  of  the  mind,  produces  error 
arid  misery. 

It  must  be  obvious  to  every  one,  that  these  com- 
parisons are  no  fancy  flights  of  the  imagination ;  but 
that  they  are  founded  upon  the  immutable  laws  of  na- 
ture, and  verified  by  the  experience  of  real  life ;  and 
we  have  only  to  observe  the  sowing  of  the  seeds  and 
the  reaping  of  the  harvests  in  our  own  minds,  and  of 
those  by  whom  we  are  immediately  surrounded,  in 
order  to  witness  the  unerring  certainty  of  the  opera- 
tion of  nature's  laws.  How  important  is  -it  then, 
that  none  but  the  seeds  of  virtue  should  be  sown  in 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL  READING.  179 

the  mind,  and  that  it  should  receive  that  substantial 
mental  culture,  which  alone  can  insure  an  abundant 
yield  of  virtuous  and  useful  deeds.  How  fearful  are 
the  responsibilities  of  those  to  whose  care  and  culti- 
vation the  Creator  has  intrusted  his  human  farms. 
They  are  planting  a  man  for  time,  and  a  soul  for 
eternity ;  a  man  whose  mind  shall  be  stored  with  the 
golden  fruits  of  essential  truth,  and  around  which, 
as  a  solar  center,  shall  revolve  all  the  purest  virtues, 
receiving  from  it  a  perennial  stream  of  heavenly 
radiance ;  or  a  man  whose  mind  shall  be  filled  with 
vice  and  error,  blasting,  by  their  withering  curse, 
every  germ  of  truth  and  virtue  which  would  take 
deep  root  in  its  soil. 

Beware  what  seed  you  sow  in  that  precious  soil. 
If  the  husbandman  is  careful  what  seed  he  sows  in 
the  earthly  soil,  the  fruits  of  which  pass  away  before 
the  autumn  frosts,  how  much  more  careful  should 
you  be  in  sowing  the  seed  in  the  immortal  mind ; 
the  growth  and  results  of  which  will  yet  endure 
when  time  shall  be  no  more.  God  have  mercy  on 
those  who  sow  in  the  soil  of  their  minds  the  seeds  of 
exaggeration,  faction,  and  falsehood,  knowing  that  as 
they  sow  so  must  they  reap,  and  who  thus  sow  tares 
in  their  immortal  minds,  to  ripen  beyond  the  grave, 
and  to  be  harvested  in  eternity. 

The  mind  has  also  been  justly  compared  to  a  sheet 
of  pure  white  paper.  When  the  mind  first  comes 
from  the  hand  of  its  Creator,  it  is  pure  as  the  morn- 
ing dew.  It  is  yet  unstained  by  any  of  those  con- 
taminating influences  which  necessarily  surround  it, 
when  it  is  brought  in  contact  with  fallen  and  de- 
graded humanity.  But  like  the  sheet  of  paper,  it  is 
capable  of  receiving  and  retaining  any  impressions 
which  circumstances  may  make  upon  it ;  and  as  there 
may  be  written  upon  the  paper  the  impressions  of 


180  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

truth ;  the  teachings  of  religion  ;  the  beauties,  the 
pleasures  and  the  enjoyments  of  practical  virtue, 
and  also  the  impression  of  facts  and  useful  knowl- 
edge ;  so,  also,  may  these  impressions  be  written  upon 
the  pure  and  unpcrverted  faculties  of  the  mind,  and 
they  will  feed  and  grow  upon  them,  until  they  be- 
come incorporated  into  the  essential  qualities  of  the 
mind,  and  thus  is  formed  that  sound  reason,  intelli- 
gence and  judgment  which  characterize  the  man  of 
sterling  energy,  virtue  and  integrity.  And  as  the 
paper  may  also  receive  and  retain  the  impressions 
of  exaggeration  and  falsehood,  the  images  of  false 
principles,  the  apologies  of  immorality,  and  receive 
the  impressions  of  vice  and  folly  displayed  to  the  pub- 
lic gaze  in  the  fascinating  garb  of  pleasure  and  amuse- 
ment, so  may  the  mind  receive  and  retain  all  these  im- 
pressions, and  feed  upon  them  until  their  poisoning 
influences  are  instilled  into  the  very  nature  of  all  its 
faculties. 

As  the  hand  of  education  writes  upon  the  spotless 
tablets  of  the  mind,  so  is  it  received  and  retained. 
If  the  principles  of  truth  and  virtue  be  recorded 
there,  they  will  beam  forth  in  acts  of  usefulness  and 
good  will,  but  if  the  black  impress  of  falsehood  and 
error  has  been  written  upon  these  tablets,  they  will 
be  faithful  to  the  record,  and  display  its  falseness  in 
acts  of  vice  and  folly.  Hence  we  see  that  persons 
whose  minds  have  received  the  false  impressions  of 
Novel  Reading  are  continually  floundering  about  in 
the  great  ocean  of  human  existence,  trying  to  live 
in  some  imaginary,  romantic,  love-sick  world,  while 
the  inexorable  laws  of  nature's  God  bind  them  down 
to  the  stern  realities  of  earthly  existence,  floating 
recklessly  upon  the  tide  of  human  events,  without 
those  fixed  principles  of  mind,  and  that  determined 
energy  of  action,  which  mark  the  mind  of  virtuous 


INFLUENCE   OF   NOVEL   READING  181 

training,  and  without  the  desire  or  capacity  to  en- 
counter and  struggle  with  the  stern  realities  of  life. 
Such  a  human  vessel  is  tossed  upon  the  billows  of 
the  troubled  ocean,  upon  which  it  is  sailing,  with- 
out the  compass  of  truth  to  direct  it  into  the 
harbors  of  peace  and  safety,  but  the  false  and  ex- 
aggerated ideas  of  this  ocean  of  humanity,  which 
serve  as  its  guide,  direct  it  upon  the  shoals  of  error, 
where  the  vessel  is  stranded,  and,  too  frequently,  the 
voyage  of  life  terminates  in  disappointment,  misfor- 
tune and  misery.  Who  ever  heard  of  an  habitual 
novel  reader  who  ever  accomplished  any  thing  in 
life  worthy  of  the  God-like  faculties  of  human 
rationality,  or  who  ever  heard  of  an  individual  who 
controlled  the  events  of  his  own  age,  or  of  one 
whose  principles  and  teachings  controlled  human 
events  for  long  ages  after  he  was  moldering  in  his 
grave,  who  was  an  habitual  novel  reader  ? 

Nothing  can  be  truer  than  the  metaphysical  maxim, 
that  "the  mind  grows  upon  what  it  feeds  upon." 
What,  then,  can  possess  more  pernicious  properties 
for  it  to  "grow  upon"  than  to  "feed  upon"  the 
exaggeration  and  false  teachings  contained  in  nov- 
els? If  the  mind  grows  upon  what  it  feeds  upon,  it 
follows  that  if  it  feed  upon  false  principles,  the 
essential  qualities  of  the  mind  will  be  false,  that  is, 
the  reason,  intelligence  and  judgment  of  the  mind, 
thus  nurtured,  will  be  false.  There  is  nothing  in 
more  uniform  accordance  with  the  experience  of  life 
than  that  if  the  mind  be  fed  upon  false  instruction 
it  will  grow  upon  it,  that  is,  the  mind  does  receive 
and  retain  false  instruction  ;  and,  further,  nothing  is 
more  inevitably  certain  than  that  all  the  acts  and 
thoughts  of  the 'mind  rest  upon  the  basis  and  result 
from  the  instruction  which  it  has  received.  Hence, 
the  person  whose  mind  has  received  false  instruction 


182  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

thinks  and  acts  falsely,  his  reason,  intelligence,  and 
judgment,  the  only  guides  which  he  can  have  to 
direct  him  in  the  journey  of  life,  are  unfaithful; 
and  he  is  involved  in  a  maze  of  difficulties  and  dis- 
appointments, because  the  stern  realities  of  life  are 
different  from  the  vanishing  chimeras  of  romance. 

Fiction  is  not  necessarily  the  instrument  of  evil 
consequences.  The  evils  of  novel  reading  do  not 
result  merely  because  the  characters  represented  and 
the  incidents  narrated  are  fictitious,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, true  virtue  and  pure  and  undefiled  morality 
may  some  times  be  more  efficiently  taught  by  being 
attired  in  the  pleasing  garb  of  fiction.  Christ 
taught  the  purest  virtue  and  the  truest  righteous- 
ness by  means  of  parables,  but  let  it  be  distinctly 
remembered  that  there  is  a  very  material  difference 
between  the  Scripture  parables  and  modern  novels. 
Yet  all  novels  are  not  to  be  equally  condemned. 
Perhaps  the  productions  of  Miss  Edgeworth,  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  and  authors  of  like  standard,  may  be 
read  without  much  actual  injury  to  the  mind,  any 
farther  than  it  always  induces  a  taste  for  such  read- 
ing, which,  if  not  carefully  guarded,  soon  debases 
itself  into  regular  Novel  Reading,  and,  consequently, 
becomes  a  vice,  which  destroys  all  taste  of  substan- 
tial reading.  But  the  novels  with  which  the  interm- 
inable fecundity  of  the  press  has  at  present  flooded 
the  country,  are  too  generally  in  the  last  stage  of 
degeneracy.  They  are  too  frequently  the  hyper- 
bolical emanations  of  distorted  imaginations,  and 
without  teaching  any  good  moral,  they  teem  with 
the  most  pernicious  error  and  with  the  most  extrav- 
agant misrepresentations  of  life  and  nature.  The 
excelsior  attainment  of  modern  novel  writing  seems 
to  be  to  make  t he  widest  strides  of  fantastic  imagery, 
to  draw  the  most  distorted  and  wonder-provoking 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL   READING.  183 

pictures  of  life,  pictures  which  captivate  the  dissi- 
pated mind  of  the  novel  reader  merely  on  account 
of  their  utter  variance  from  the  events  which  usually 
occur  in  real  life.  Let  every  lover  of  truth  and 
virtue  unqualifiedly  condemn  such  nefarious  publi- 
cations. There  needs  only  to  be  created  a  general 
taste  for  more  substantial  reading,  in  order  that  the 
shelves  of  our  bookstores  and  libraries  may  be  filled 
with  the  substantial  nourishment  of  literature,  instead 
of  its  chaff  and  cheat. 

Yet  it  is  certainly  not  objectionable  that  if  truth 
and  morality  could  be  more  pleasantly  and  forcibly 
taught  by  means  of  fiction,  that  it  should  be  adopted, 
but  there  is  this  consideration  always  in  favor  of  teach- 
ing the  same  principles  by  means  of  actual  facts  and 
events,  that  while  fiction  merely  conveys  to  the  mind 
the  naked  moral,  facts  more  effectually  accomplish 
the  same  object,  and  at  the  same  time  store  the 
mind  with  useful  knowledge.  And  again,  when  the 
reader  is  aware  that  the  events  and  incidents  nar- 
rated are  fictitious,  the  mind  acquires  a  carelessness 
and  indifference  in  regard  to  the  matter  stated,  and 
eagerly  devours  only  the  exciting  error  and  falsehood, 
and  thus  blights  all  prospects  of  storing  the  mind 
with  useful  knowledge.  Certainly  the  greatest  benefit 
to  be  derived  from  reading  is,  that  it  furnishes  the 
mind  with  a  knowledge  of  real  events,  with  the  ma- 
terials of  truth,  and  with  a  correct  understanding  of 
those  great  cardinal  principles  of  life  and  nature, 
which  govern  and  control  ourselves,  and  every  thing 
by  which  we  are  surrounded,  and  which,  consequently, 
determine  our  happiness  in  all  the  relations  of  human 
existence.  But  in  as  much  as  it  is  the  very  nature 
of  fiction  that  it  does  not  relate  real  events,  and  does 
not  teach  the  real  principles  of  things,  and,  of  course^ 
discards  facts  altogether,  consequently  it  can  be  of 


184  MODERN   FANCIES  AND   FOLLIES. 

no  aid  whatever  in  accomplishing  these  most  vitally 
important  objects. 

But  added  to  these,  there  is  another  insurmount- 
able objection.  Although  mere  fiction  itself  may  be 
comparatively  harmless,  yet  it  can  not  be  confined 
within  harmless  limits.  It  is  not  the  mere  fiction 
that  is  vicious,  but  it  is  the  pernicious  error  and  ex- 
aggeration which  constitute  its  great  interest.  It 
requires  no  authority  to  substantiate  it;  it  is  not 
founded  upon  actual  facts  and  events  which  can  be 
investigated ;  it  holds  no  allegiance  with  real  princi- 
ples, and  so  it  soars  untrammeled  into  the  illimitable 
regions  of  fancy.  But  as  it  is  not  the  unadorned 
moral  which  is  so  enticing  to  the  mind  of  the  novel 
reader,  the  fictionist,  in  order  to  make  his  production 
interesting  and  attractive,  ornaments  his  morality 
and  pictures  of  human  nature,  with  highly  colored 
exaggerations,  and  with  brilliant  but  unreal  creations 
of  the  imagination,  and  from  these  result  the  evil 
consequences  of  Novel  Reading.  Exaggeration  and 
false  pictures  of  life  can  not  be  presented  to  the 
mind  in  such  a  pleasing  and  attractive  form,  with- 
out exerting  a  very  decided  influence.  Facts  are 
stubborn  things,  and  truth  is  eternal,  and  all  adding 
to,  or  subtracting  from  either,  is  falsehood  and  mis- 
representation, which  falsify  the  reason,  intelligence, 
and  judgment  of  the  mind,  and  soon  manifest  their 
results  in  acts  of  vice,  and  in  the  want  of  that  energy 
and  virtuous  action  which  receive  the  rewards  of  suc- 
cess in  life,  and  which  can  be  the  prize  only  of  minds 
matured  by  virtuous  discipline,  and  stored  with  use- 
ful knowledge. 

Twenty-five  hundred,  years  ago,  when  Thespis,  the 
inventor  of  tragedy,  was  acting  one  of  his  plays  before 
the  people,  Solon,  the  great  Athenian  law-giver,  and 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL  READING.  185 

one  of  the  most  celebrated  sages  of  antiquity,  asked 
him  "  whether  he  was  not  ashamed  to  utter  such  lies 
before  so  many  people  ?"  Thespis  answered  "  that 
there  was  no  harm  in  lies  of  that  sort,  and  in  fictions 
which  are  made  only  for  diversion."  Solon  replied 
with  much  earnestness,  "  But  if  we  suffer  and  approve 
of  lying  for  our  diversion,  it  will  quickly  find  its  way 
into  our  serious  engagements,  and  all  our  business 
and  affairs."  This  is  truth  and  wisdom,  verified  by 
the  experience  of  every  age  of  the  world. 

The  great  argument  of  the  advocates  of  Novel 
Reading  is  that  novels  generally  contain  a  high  tone 
of  morality,  that  they  plead  its  claims  and  display  its 
beauties  and  rewards  before  the  audience  of  the  mind 
in  that  style  and  manner  which  is  best  calculated  to 
arrest  and  fix  its  attention.  If  there  is  any  good  re- 
sulting from  Novel  Reading  this  is  certainly  it,  for  it 
can  not  be  pretended  that  it  teaches  facts  and  sub- 
stantial instruction.  Let  us  analyze  this  morality, 
and  test  its  purity.  In  the  first  place,  we  find  it  vision- 
ary and  chimerical.  As  it  devolves  upon  the  novel 
writer  to  create  his  own  circumstances  and  incidents, 
and  also  his  own  morality,  they  make  excellent  use 
of  their  high  prerogatives,  and  are  generally  very 
successful  in  creating  a  romantic  ontology,  which  is 
a  very  material  improvement  on  the  pattern  which 
the  author  of  nature  has  set  them,  when  He  created 
man  and  the  world  in  which  he  is  placed.  Having 
thus  created  a  new  order  of  beings,  it  of  course  de- 
volves upon  the  novel  writer  to  manufacture  a  sys- 
tem of  morality  which  will  suit  them,  for  as  these 
beings  are  very  different  from  such  as  we  usually  find 
in  real  life,  of  course  our  kind  of  morality  would  not 
suit  them.  Hence  this  goose-quill  morality  is  only 
applicable  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  fancy  world. 
These  denizens  of  fancy  soar  away  above  the  dull 
16 


186  MODERN    FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

earth,  and  vanish  into  utter  nothingness,  to  escape 
the  stern  and  unyielding  mandates  of  nature,  to  which 
the  plodding  inhabitants  of  this  sublunary  sphere  are 
inexorably  subjected.  How  finely  do  these  fantastic 
beings  get  along,  when  it  only  requires  a  stroke  of 
the  pen  to  repeal  the  laws  of  nature,  and  to  produce 
any  desired  event.  But  when  you  come  to  grapple 
with  the  stern  realities  of  life,  you  might  be  sadly  dis- 
appointed when  you  find  that  things  are  conducted 
in  a  very  different  manner. 

True  morality  is  the  proper  discharge  of  those 
duties  which  are  required  of  man  by  the  inexorable 
conditions  of  his  existence,  and  which  elevate  his 
condition,  and  promote  his  happiness.  Novel  moral- 
ity is  the  fictitious  action  of  fictitious  and  fantastic 
characters,  portraying  an  imaginary  and  impracti- 
cable state  of  existence,  and  applicable  only  to  a 
train  of  events  and  circumstances  which  very  un- 
usually, or  never  occur  in  real  life.  Consequently 
the  morality  taught  in  novels  is  no  more  substantial 
than  are  the  incidents  and  events,  and  both  are  worse 
than  useless,  so  far  as  regards  the  proper  under- 
standing of  the  real  conditions  of  human  existence, 
and  also  the  proper  discharge  of  the  practical  duties 
of  life.  Hence  it  is  that  novel  readers  so  frequently 
have  such  'romantic  and  unreal  ideas  of  life.  The 
sterner  realities  of  life  are  generally  extremely  un- 
romantic,  and  consequently,  if  it  be  undertaken  to 
make  a  pleasing  and  dramatic  romance  out  of  life,  it 
must  always  be  unsuccessful,  and  can  only  lead  to 
bitter  disappointment.  Thus  are  all  the  best  enjoy- 
ments of  life  destroyed. 

Yet  there  is  a  thrilling  interest  in  reality.  What 
can  fill  the  imagination  with  more  thrilling  emotion 
and  excitement  than  the  grand  pictures  drawn  upon, 
the  face  of  nature  by  the  Supreme  Artist  of  the 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL   READING.  187 

heavens  and  the  earth.  What  book  can  contain 
more  sublime  and  interesting  revelations  than  the 
book  of  nature,  the  author  of  which  is  God  himself? 
Oh,  what  a  novel  is  here  for  man  to  read,  a  novel  not 
fictitious,  but  written  by  the  Author  of  nature.  The 
characters  represented  are  man  himself,  the  circum- 
stances portrayed  are  the  universal  existence,  and 
the  events  narrated  are  all  those  which  transpire  in 
the  regular  operation  of  universal  nature.  The 
scenes  laid  are  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  planets,  the 
fixed  stars,  and  the  wandering  comets,  which  fill 
illimitable  space ;  the  earth  and  all  the  fullness 
thereof:  the  moral  taught  is  the  will  of  God.  The 
instruction  to  be  derived  from  this  volume  is  the 
scheme  of  human  happiness,  the  principles  which  it 
impresses  upon  the  mind  are  those  of  virtue,  moral- 
ity, religion  ;  and  the  motives  which  it  inspires  in  the 
soul  are  those  of  sincere  reverence  and  devotion  for 
God  in  heaven,  and  "  peace  and  good  will  to  man  on 
earth."  Where  can  you  find  a  volume  of  such  thrill- 
ing and  momentous  interest  and  importance,  except 
its  counter-part,  the  Bible  ?  Do  you  say  in  that 
"  yellow-backed "  or  fancy-bound  book  in  which 
love-sick  phantasms  and  puppet  heroes,  the  crea- 
tures of  some  distorted  imagination,  perform  valorous 
deeds  in  the  spheres  of  fancy  and  the  regions  of 
fantastic  unreality,  and  all  with  a  nonsensicalness 
which  should  sicken  any  mind  which  is  not  already 
mentally  diseased  and  perverted.  Oh  shame,  shame, 
shame. 

Are  the  grand  designs  and  operations  of  nature's 
God  less  interesting  to  you  than  the  imaginary  ad- 
ventures of  some  love-sick  novel  popinjay?  Is  your 
mind  so  sunk  in  mental  perversion  that  it  becomes 
an  irksome  task  to  investigate  and  reflect  upon  those 
principles  which  govern  your  welfare  and  happiness 


188  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

as  a  mortal  and  as  an  immortal  being,  and  can  you 
only  derive  pleasure  from  devouring  the  tempting,  but 
poisonous  fruits  of  fiction  and  error?  Do  you  wish  to 
enjoy  an  intellectual  feast  of  wonder  and  sublimity? 
Behold  those  revolving  worlds.  Will  they  not  in- 
spire in  the  soul  the  transporting  emotions  of  wonder 
and  admiration,  equally  as  well  as  the  frantic  capers 
of  a  love-sick  novel  hero  ?  Do  you  wish  to  enjoy  a 
calm  and  consoling  revery  of  the  mind,  when  the 
soul  shall  return  in  calmness  from  the  strife  and  bick- 
erings of  the  world,  and  hold  sweet  communion  with 
its  God  ?  Behold  that  majestic  river,  as  its  waters 
are  continually  moving  down  the  stream  to  mingle 
with  those  of  the  great  ocean  of  waters.  As  it  moves 
along  it  is  frequently  disturbed  by  the  howling  storm, 
and  by  the  accession  of  foaming,  turbid  streams ; 
yet  these  only  hurry  it  on  more  swiftly  and  more 
violently,  until  it  mingles  with  the  waters  of  the 
ocean.  How  emblematic  of  the  stream  of  time ! 
Man  makes  no  stop  in  its  ceaseless  current  until 
he  arrives  at  his  final  destiny,  and  the  immortal 
principle  of  humanity  mingles  in  the  great  ocean  of 
eternity.  But  as  he  moves  along  in  the  current  of 
time,  how  frequently  are  the  limpid  waters  of  vir- 
tuous life  disturbed  by  the  howling  storms  of  pas- 
sion, and  agitated  and  polluted  by  the  turbid  streams 
of  vice,  which  only  hurry  him  on  more  swiftly  and 
more  violently  to  the  doom  of  time  and  the  morning 
of  eternity ;  and  as  the  waters  of  the  river  carry  the 
pollution  and  turbidness  which  they  have  received 
into  the  ocean,  unless  they  are  purified  by  flowing 
through  channels  which  are  clear  of  mud  and  filth, 
and  do  not  mingle  with  the  waters  of  muddy  streams ; 
so  the  living  principle  of  man  flows  into  the  ocean  of 
eternity,  stained  by  the  pollutions  of  vice  and  folly 
which  it  has  received  as  it  floated  down  the  stream 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL   READING.  189 

of  time,  unless  it  is  purified  by  flowing  through  the 
channels  of  virtue,  and  afterward  kept  from  ming- 
ling with  the  polluting  streams  of  vice.  But  can  the 
investigation  of  these  immutable  principles,  which 
determine  the  question  of  happiness  for  time  and 
eternity,  be  so  interesting  to  the  virtuous  mind  as 
the  pursuit  of  a  fleeting  phantom  through  the  regions 
of  fancy,  or  afford  to  it  such  intense  gratification  as 
to  know  what  becomes  of  Little  Dorrit  ? 

The  reason  why  mankind  generally  are  not  more 
interested  in  the  study  of  the  great  volume  of  nature, 
which  contains  a  plain  and  detailed  exposition  of  the 
plan  of  human  existence,  is  because  they  never  open 
the  book  of  nature  to  read  it.  They  merely  look  at 
the  back  of  it.  The  mere  external  face  of  nature, 
as  we  see  it  every  time  that  we  look  out  at  the  win- 
dow, or  as  we  observe  it  in  bad  roads,  stormy  weather, 
or  some  misfortune  which  painfully  affects  us,  is  only 
the  back  of  the  book  of  nature  :  the  real  contents 
lie  beneath  this  back.  And  because  people  observe 
the  external  appearances  of  nature,  every  day  of 
their  lives,  they  become  weary  even  of  its  loveliest 
beauties,  and  turn  from  them  with  perfect  indiffer- 
ence, without  ever  having  opened  the  book  of  nature 
to  partake  of  the  rich  intellectual  feast  which  is  con- 
tained therein.  Ah,  beneath  that  old  cover  which 
you  so  often  look  upon  with  such  utter  thoughtless- 
ness, there  is  contained  some  of  the  most  valuable 
and  the  most  sparkling  gems  of  thought,  and  some 
of  the  most  delicious  morsels  of  intellectual  food. 
What  can  afford  more  exquisite  delight  to  the  vir- 
tuous mind,  than  to  read  the  will  of  God,  as  he 
has  written  it  with  his  own  hand  in  the  book  of  na- 
ture ?  Every  mineral  and  other  substance  which 
lie  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  every  plant 
Bhrub,  tree  and  flower  which  spring  from  its  surface, 


190  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

are  so  many  words  expressing  the  meaning  of  God. 
But  we  can  not  understand  the  meaning  of  these 
words  of  God,  merely  by  looking  at  the  plant  or 
flower  without  studying  them,  any  more  than  we  can 
understand  a  word  of  the  Greek  language  by  looking 
at  it,  without  knowing  the  Greek  alphabet.  The  in- 
dividual nature  of  each  of  these  natural  objects  is 
the  first  rudiments  of  natural  science,  the  alphabet 
which  spell  the  words  with  which  God  has  expressed 
his  will  in  the  book  of  nature.  Open  this  book,  my 
friends,  learn  its  language,  and  read  the  will  of  God. 
Behold  there  the  exquisite  workmanship  of  every 
plant  and  flower,  as  if  the  most  persevering  labor 
bad  been  bestowed  upon  each  individual  bud  and 
bloom,  to  adapt  them  to  the  wants  of  men.  Read  in 
this  the  boundless  beneficence  and  goodness  of  an 
Allwise  Creator. 

But  with  what  intense  interest  should  we  open  the 
volume  of  human  nature.  This  is  the  most  intricate 
and  infinitely  the  most  important  of  all  human  stud- 
ies. In  this  volume  God  has  expounded  the  prin- 
ciples which  governs  man  in  all  his  relations  as  a 
human  being,  and  he  has  furnished  each  individual 
person,  in  his  own  nature,  with  a  copy  of  the  work. 
Here  the  natural  laws  of  man  furnish  the  principle 
of  study,  and  every  human  act,  and  all  the  events 
and  incidents  of  real  life,  every  glow  of  health,  every 
pang  of  disease,  every  joyous  emotion,  and  all  the 
sorrows  and  trials  of  disappointment  and  misery,  are 
only  practical  illustrations  of  these  principles.  Study 
them  and  learn  their  meaning.  The  happiness  and 
enjoyment  of  every  moment  of  human  life  depend 
upon  their  operation.  And  although  man  has  thus 
been  receiving  lessons  from  this  volume  during  the 
whole  period  of  his  existence,  yet  he  but  poorly  un- 
derstands its  meaning.  He  has  not  yet  even  learned 


INFLUENCE  OP  NOVEL  READING.    191 

the  alphabet  of  the  language  of  his  own  nature.  He 
is  sick  and  he  thinks  God  has  especially  afflicted  him. 
He  seeks  happiness  by  violating  the  most  important 
laws  of  his  nature,  and  thinks  he  is  unfortunate  be- 
cause he  is  unsuccessful.  He  knows  but  very  little 
of  the  real  government  of  God,  although  he  has  been 
governed  by  it,  without  the  slightest  change  in  its 
laws  and  institutions  for  sixty  centuries.  Read  this 
book,  my  friends,  read  it  carefully  and  earnestly. 
It  will  not  only  afford  you  the  rarest  intellectual  en- 
joyment, but  it  will  also  teach  you  the  road  which 
leads  to  mortal  and  to  immortal  happiness. 

How  the  dignity  of  human  rationality  is  lowered 
in  our  estimation,  when  we  reflect  that  it  can  be  per- 
verted to  that  degree  .in  which  it  can  derive  more 
pleasure  and  satisfaction  from  devouring  mere  men- 
tal phantasms  and  vain  idealities,  than  it  can  from  the 
investigation  of  those  substantial  realities  which  con- 
stitute the  foundation  of  all  permanent  human  wel- 
fare and  happiness.  As  the  pleasures  to  be  derived 
from  the  practice  of  virtue,  are,  in  all  cases,  more  sub- 
stantial and  enduring  than  those  to  be  derived  from 
the  practice  of  vice,  so  are  the  pleasures  to  be  de- 
rived from  the  study  of  the  principles  of  reality, 
more  substantial  and  enduring  than  those  which  re- 
sult from  reading  mere  fiction.  And  as  virtue  always 
bestows  its  reward  upon  those  who  practice  it,  while 
those  who  practice  vice  suffer  the  inevitable  penalty, 
BO  the  study  of  the  principles  of  reality  stores  the 
mind  with  that  useful  knowledge,  which  is  entirely 
essential  to  success  and  happiness  in  life,  while  the 
reading  of  exaggerated  fiction  fills  the  mind  with  in- 
flated and  erroneous  conceptions  of  life  and  nature, 
which  have  a  tendency  to  defeat  all  efforts  of  useful- 
ness, and  too  often  renders  life  a  blasted  and  barren 
desert,  which  produces  none  of  those  substantial 


192  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

fruits  of  virtuous  effort  which  contribute  to  the  hap- 
piness of  humanity,  but  a  dreary  desert,  overspread 
by  the  drifting  sands  of  vice  and  indolence. 

Substantial  reading  furnishes  us  with  faithful 
guides  to  direct  us  in  the  journey  of  life  ;  unsub- 
stantial reading  furnishes  us  Avith  unfaithful  guides, 
which  misdirect  us  at  every  turn  of  the  road.  How 
frequently  is  it  that  we  find  the  ideas  of  the  novel 
reader  only  visionary,  and  whose  waking  hours  are 
only  dreams,  while  Novel  Reading  has  fixed  upon 
the  mind  the  habit  of  considering  every  thing  as 
imaginary  and  fictitious ;  he  looks  upon  life  as  a 
romance,  and,  like  an  incarnate  ghost,  he  passes 
down  the  stream  of  time,  shuffled  about  by  the 
stern  realities  of  life,  until  death  closes  the  sad  and 
melancholy  fiction. 

But  suppose  we  admit  that  the  morality  taught  in 
novels  is  applicable  to  real  life,  let  us  examine  briefly 
the  mode  of  teaching.  As  it  must  be  admitted  by 
all  that  the  principal  interest  in  Novel  Reading  is 
derived,  not  from  the  moral  which  is  thus  taught, 
but  from  the  exaggeration,  the  falsely-colored  pic- 
tures, the  thrilling  incidents  and  misrepresentations 
of  life  which  are  contained  in  novels,  and,  as  the 
mind  can  not  receive  the  impression  of  the  morality 
which  is  thus  taught,  even  though  it  were  pure, 
without  also  receiving  the  impression  of  the  entic- 
ing error  which  is  at  the  same  time  enforced  upon 
the  mind,  it  follows  that  the  morality  which  is  thus 
taught  is  necessarily  an  adulterated  mixture  of  mo- 
rality and  error.  But  if  true  morality  is  so  dis- 
tasteful to  the  mind  that  it  has  to  be  clothed  in  fan- 
tastic fiction  and  exaggeration,  in  order  to  render 
it  pleasing,  it  is  very  certain  that  the  small  portion 
of  spurious  morality  usually  contained  in  novels  will 
have  but  little  influence  upon  such  a  mind,  while 


INFLUENCE  OF   NOVEL   READING.  193 

it  will  feed  almost  entirely  upon  the  enticing  error. 
What !  is  true  morality  such  a  bitter  pill  that  it  has 
to  be  "sugar-coated"  with  glittering  but  pernicious 
error  before  the  mind  will  receive  it;  that,  in  order 
to  prepare  a  homo30pathic  dose  of  adulterated  moral- 
ity, to  try  to  produce  a  wholesome  physic  upon  the 
vitiated  mind  of  the  novel  reader,  it  is  necessary  to 
conceal  it  in  the  mazes  of  the  most  fascinating  but 
pernicious  error  and  falsehoo'd.  Alas  for  such  mo- 
rality. The  virtue  which  is  drawn  from  such  a 
source  is  so  deeply  contaminated-  with  poisonous 
ingredients  that  the  mind  which  feeds  upon  it  must, 
necessarily,  grow  into  mental  morbidness  and  per- 
vertion. 

But  it  is  urged  that  novels  are  the  picture-galleries 
of  human  nature,  that  the  attractive  page  of  fiction 
arid  the  hand  of  plastic  fancy  portrays,  in  nicer 
touches,  the  manifold  features  of  human  character, 
and  thus  more  effectually  impress  their  images  upon 
the  susceptible  canvas  of  the  mind.  This  claim 
might  be  true  were  one  thing  in  regard  to  novels 
true,  and  that  is,  did  they  faithfully  and  truly  por- 
tray the  great  fundamental  and  operative  principles 
of  human  nature ;  but  if  they  fail  in  this,  then  the 
claim  is  manifestly  false.  The  important  question 
then  is,  do  they  faithfully  portray  the  cardinal  prin- 
ciples of  human  nature,  for  if  they  fail  in  this,  then 
their  boasted  pictures  and  dazzling  images  are  only 
BO  many  attractive  and  beautiful  forms  of  vice  and 
error.  It  immediately  occurs  to  the  reflecting  mind 
that  where  all  is  manufactured  from  as  unsubstantial 
materials  as  fiction,  and  where  no  unaccommodating 
realities  interpose  their  unwelcome  meddling  with  the 
accomplishment  of  human  desires,  but  where  man 
is  pictured  as  mounting  upon  aerial  wings  and 
being  wafted  by  the  breezes  of  fancy  into  any  port 


194  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

of  life  which  may  be  desired,  and  is  invested  by  a 
stroke  of  the  pen  with  a  character  which  would  be 
creditable  to  an  angel,  and  as  easily  with  one  which 
would  disgrace  the  devil,  that  there  might  occur 
some  material  discrepancies  between  this  fantastic 
painting  and  the  stern  realities  of  life. 

Beauty !  thou  whose  heavenly  inspirations  send  a 
joyous  thrill  to  the  soul,  and  whose  potent  charms 
hold  the  human  mind  in  ecstasy,  and  blooms  like  a 
celestial  flower  in  the  dark  and  gloomy  valleys  of 
the  trials  and  troubles  of  life,  and  beams  forth  its 
heavenly  radiance  there  to  soothe  the  pains  and 
suffering  of  afflicted  mortality,  thou,  the  loveliest 
flower  that  grows  in  mortal  soil,  art  sacrificed  at  the 
altar  of  fiction,  robbed  of  thy  real  earthly  robe,  and 
dressed  in  the  gaudy  garbs  of  unreality.  As  the 
fictionist  describes  the  personal  charms  of  his  hero- 
ine, we  would  reasonably  think  that  he  was  picturing 
the  beauty  of  some  bright  inhabitant  of  the  fairy  land, 
instead  of  the  earthly  flower,  as  it  actually  blooms 
in  the  great  garden  of  humanity.  Well  might  the 
most  exquisite  beauty  that  flirts  in  the  halls  of 
wealth  and  fashion  blush  at  her  own  deformity  when 
she  reads  of  the  Venus-like  beauty  of  these  fairies 
of  the  imagination. 

Love,  thou  purest  gem  of  the  human  heart,  thou 
who  bindest  the  fiercest  passions  of  the  human  breast 
with  the  delicate  and  endearing  fetters  of  pure  im- 
pulse ;  thou,  who  castest  thy  bright  beams  into  the 
desolate  solitudes  of  the  human  heart,  as  the  weary 
wanderer  is  passing  through  the  desert  places  of 
life,  and  like  a  bright  oasis,  inviting  him  to  the  re- 
treats of  peace  and  safety  ;  thou,  whose  purest  devo- 
tions are  offered  up  to  youth,  to  manhood,  and  to 
age ;  offspring  of  heaven,  and  God's  eternal  at- 
tribute ;  thou,  too,  art  offered  a  sacrifice  at  the 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL   READING.  195 

shrine  of  fiction,  and  clothed  in  the  habits  of  dis- 
gusting novel  love.  The  idea  of  life  to  be  derived 
from  novel  reading,  is  that  its  great  object  and  occu- 
pation is  sexual  love ;  not  that  calm  and  devoted  love 
which  springs  from  the  sincere  mind,  and  purifies 
every  thought,  and  ennobles  every  act,  but  that  selfish, 
jealous,  boyish,  mad  love,  which  runs  away  with  the 
reason,  and  paralyzes  the  noblest  faculties  of  the 
mind.  The  hero  of  the  novel  is  generally  pictured 
in  the  colors  of  thrilling  and  romantic  adventures, 
which  fairly  eclipse  the  fabulous  exploits  of  the  gods 
of  heathenism ;  mad,  jealous,  envious,  dreaming  the 
dreams  of  visionary  love,  and  whose  very  soul  ap- 
pears to  be  in  the  last  stages  of  a  fatal  lovesick- 
ness,  and  in  this  plight  he  is  held  up  before  the  mind, 
as  the  paragon  of  every  virtue,  and  the  very  imper- 
sonation of  manly  action,  and  as  a  perfect  model, 
after  which  to  pattern  the  human  character  to  strug- 
gle with  the  unyielding  actualities  of  real  life.  And 
the  heroine,  whose  celestial  beauties  trancsend  those 
of  either  Helen  or  Venus,  mounting  her  airy  chariot 
of  fancy,  hurls  her  Cupid's  arrows  at  this  fantastic 
Jupiter,  and  conquers  the  mighty  hero  by  the  irre- 
sistible power  of  novel  love. 

Stand  aside,  ye  pigmy  specimens  of  humanity, 
and  behold  the  awful  strides  of  gods  and  mighty 
heroes,  as  they  contend  against  difficulties,  such  as 
mortal  man  never  overcame,  and  under  such  marvel- 
lous circumstances  as  the  dull  transactions  of  human 
life  never  produce.  But  what  can  equal  the  mighty 
deeds  of  fancy?  By  a  single  stroke  of  the  pen 
miracles  are  performed,  and  God's  eternal  laws  re- 
pealed, and  in  their  aerial  flight,  escalading  all 
obstacles  which  are  insurmountable  to  plodding 
humanity,  they  accomplish  wonders  which  fabulous 
antiquity  never  dreamed  of,  and  pursuing  the  phan- 


196  MODERN  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

torn  of  visionary  love  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
novel  life,  through  the  smoke  of  gunpowder  arising 
from  the  duels  of  rivals,  and  amid 

"That  wrath  which  hurled  to  Pluto's  gloomy  reign 
The  souls  of  mighty  chiefs  untimely  slain," 

and  through  many  miraculous  escapes,  which 
"  Make  each  particular  hair  stand  on  end," 

they  are  at  last  married,  and  this  completes  the 
thrilling  and  interesting  picture  of  life  and  nature. 
Life  seems  to  stop  short  at  marriage,  and  there  are 
no  duties  of  after  life  which  need  be  portrayed  in 
this  faithful  picture  of  human  life.  Here  we  are  left 
entirely  in  the  dark,  and  as  there  is  no  account  ex- 
tant of  the  wonderful  doings  of  any  of  these  heroes 
and  heroines  after  marriage,  we  may  reasonably  con- 
clude that  this  act  completely  destroys  their  wonder- 
ful power,  and  they  stop  short  in  their  romantic 
career,  and  afterward  go  plodding  though  life  some 
thing  like  the  common  race  of  men.  In  the  name 
of  eternal  truth,  we  ask,  is  this  portraying  human 
nature?  is  this  faithfully  drawing  a  chart  of  the 
journey  of  life,  and  distinctly  displaying  those  dan- 
gerous snags  and  sandbars  which  intersect  the 
stream  of  time,  and  upon  which  are  wrecked  so 
many  human  vessels,  as  they  are  floating  down  its 
current?  No  !  it  is  drawing  a  false  chart,  which,  in- 
stead of  directing  them  into  the  calm  and  peaceful 
waters  of  virtuous  life,  direct  them  into  the  sucking 
whirlpool  of  vice  and  folly,  and  they  are  dashed  upon 
its  dangerous  rocks. 

Man  is  fallible.  God  alone  is  infallible.  The  vail 
of  hidden  futurity  obstructs  the  human  gaze  into 
future  events,  and  as  in  painful  uncertainty  man 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL   READING.  197 

attempts  to  thread  the  maze  of  present  events  with 
a  thousand  paths  strewed  with  flowery,  temptations 
to  lead  him  astray,  and  as  in  darkness  he  is  grop- 
ing his  way  amid  the  complicated  machinery  of  na- 
ture, with  nothing  but  the  star  of  truth  to  guide  him 
on  his  dangerous  way,  and  surrounded  on  every  side 
by  the  precipices  of  error,  over  which  he  may  be 
precipitated  by  a  single  false  step ;  as  he  stands 
trembling  thus  upon  the  brink,  undecided  which  way 
to  move,  he  can  only  resort  to  his  own  mind  to  ask 
information  to  direct  him  on  the  road.  The  journey 
of  life  is  traveled  by  many  different  roads.  Some  of 
these  roads  lead  directly  to  the  abodes  of  virtue  and 
happiness ;  others  lead  to  the  dens  of  vice  and  mis- 
ery. When  the  mind  has  been  furnished  with  the 
principles  of  truth,  and  stored  with  that  substantial 
knowledge,  which  explains  the  real  nature  of  the 
country  of  human  life  ;  when  the  wandering  traveler 
resorts  to  it  for  information,  it  is  enabled  to  direct  him 
upon  the  right  road,  but  if  it  has  been  furnished  with 
the  images  and  phantasms  of  fancy  and  error,  when 
the  traveler  asks  for  information,  it  directs  nim  to  a 
visionary  happiness,  by  a  road  which  can  not  be 
traveled  in  real  life,  and  being  thus  misdirected,  he 
wanders  from  the  right  road,  and  too  frequently 
reaches  the  dens  of  vice  and  misery. 

True  knowledge  only  can  afford  any  relief  to  the 
fallibility  of  human  nature.  Our  liability  to  err  de- 
creases in  proportion  as  our  substantial  knowledge 
increases.  The  attributes  of  reason  and  intelligence 
can  operate  upon  such  materials  only  as  are  fur- 
nished to  them  by  human  conduct,  and  it  is  by  means 
of  this  operation  of  the  faculties  of  the  mind  upon 
such  circumstances  or  materials  as  are  brought  to 
bear  upon  them,  that  all  human  knowledge  is  ob- 
tained. Knowledge  is  not  an  innate  quality  of  the 


198  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

mind,  but  it  is  entirely  the  result  of  the  action  of 
the  mind.  Hence,  if  we  wish  to  acquire  a  knowl- 
edge of  geometry,  we  must  study  the  science  of 
geometry ;  and  if  we  wish  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of 
man  and  being,  we  must  study  the  laws  of  his  na- 
ture, and  observe  the  effect  of  every  human  act  upon 
human  welfare.  Now,  if  we  undertake  to  do  any 
kind  of  work,  when  we  do  not  understand  the  proper 
manner  of  doing  such  work,  we  are  extremely  liable 
to  err,  and  most  probably  will,  at  first,  be  entirely 
unsuccessful ;  but,  if  we  properly  understand  how 
to  do  such  work,  we  may  do  it  without,  perhaps, 
committing  any  mistakes,  and  our  success  is  almost 
certain.  Thus  we  acquire  true  and  substantial  knowl- 
edge, by  experience  and  study,  in  every  sphere  of 
duty  in  which  man  is  required  to  act,  and  our  lia- 
bility to  error  diminishes  just  in  proportion  as  our 
substantial  knowledge  increases. 

Hence,  our  success  in  life  depends  almost  entirely 
upon  our  substantial  knowledge.  We  can  accomplish 
nothing  in  life  unless  we  have  a  correct  knowledge 
of  the  means  required,  and  we  scarcely  need  fail  in 
the  accomplishment  of  any  enterprise  which  comes 
within  the  scope  of  human  action,  if  we  properly 
understand  the  true  principles  and  laws  by  which 
it  is  governed,  and  which  are  essential  to  success. 
If,  then,  it  be  true  that  the  natural  laws  execute 
themselves  with  unerring  certainty,  and  that  man 
is  placed  upon  earth,  subject  to  their  unyielding 
operations,  and  that  he  is  happy  or  miserable  accord- 
ing as  his  acts  are  Jji  accordance  with,  or  in  viola- 
tion of,  the  requirem%|its  of  these  laws,  that  true 
and  substantial  knowledge  only  can  teach  him  what 
these  requirements  are,  and  guard  him  against  error 
in  this  most  vitally  important  of  all  human  interests ; 
with  what  potent  energies  for  the  accomplishment 


INFLUENCE   OF   NOVEL   READING.  199 

of  evil  is  any  pleasure,  amusement,  or  conduct  of 
life  armed,  which  has  tlie  eifect  to  falsify  or  weaken 
this  principal  pillar  which  sustains  the  fabric  of 
human  happiness.  Novel  Reading  is  not  merely  a 
passive  evil  which  prevents  the  acquisition  of  sub- 
stantial knowledge,  by  occupying  the  time  which 
should  be  devoted  to  its  acquisition,  but  it  is  an 
active  evil,  storing  the  mind  with  false  and  vicious 
knowledge,  which  unavoidably  leads  man  into  error 
in  the  discharge  of  the  most  important  duties  of  life. 
In  the  constitution  of  human  nature,  the  knowledge 
with  which  the  mind  is  furnished  is  necessarily  the 
guide  which  directs  and  determines  all  the  actions 
and  conduct  of  man.  If  this  knowledge  be  false 
or  visionary,  it  increases  our  liability  to  error ;  if  it 
be  true  and  substantial,  as  already  shown,  it  dimin- 
ishes it. 

Does  Novel  Reading  furnish  to  the  mind  that  sub- 
stantial knowledge  which  man  so  much  needs  when 
he  is  struggling  with  the  stern  realities  of  life  ? 
When  he  is  involved  in  doubt  and  uncertainty  as 
to  his  proper  course  of  action,  when  he  is  surrounded 
with  difficulties,  which  seem  insurmountable,  and 
when  a  single  false  step  may  lead  him  into  irretriev- 
able error,  can  he  then  resort  to  his  stock  of  novel 
knowledge  to  afford  him  reliable  information  in  the 
time  of  his  utmost  need?  Ah,  if  he  follow,  only 
for  a  single  step,  the  visions  and  dreams  with  which 
that  knowledge  has  filled  his  mind,  he  is  brought 
in  painful  collision  with  the  stern  realities  which 
stare  him  in  the  face,  and  which  he  can  not  escape 
by  a  stroke  of  the  pen,  like  those  phantoms  of  the 
imagination,  whose  wondrous  deeds  he  so  much  ad- 
mired. Here,  no  web  of  romantic  circumstance  is 
to  be  woven;  here,  no  ideal  images  dance  upon  the 
creations  of  fancy,  but  the  stern  and  unyielding 


200  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

actualities  of  life  are  to  be  met,  and  real  flesh  and 
blood  man,  with  all  his  faults  and  errors,  plodding 
and  unromantic  creature  as  he  is,  is  to  pass  through 
the  dull  routine  of  the  vulgar  duties  of  life,  to  be 
Satisfied  with  its  insipid  pleasures,  and  to  submit 
to  its  bitter  sufferings  and  miseries.  How  unlike 
the  world  of  romance.  There  no  inexorable  reali- 
ties interpose  themselves,  but,  at  the  bidding  of  the 
fictionist,  circumstances  exist,  incidents  transpire, 
and  characters  figure  in  the  phantasmagoria  of  the 
imagination,  and  all  these  are  fancifully  and  bril- 
liantly colored  by  thrilling  adventures,  so  much  more 
pleasing  and  exciting  than  those  of  real  life,  that 
the  unwary  mind  is  captivated  and  fatally  entangled 
in  the  web  of  error. 

But  the  objections  to  Novel  Reading  are  rendered 
more  serious  by  the  fact,  that  it  falsifies  that  part  of 
human  knowledge,  which,  of  all  others,  it  is  most  im- 
portant to  man  should  be  true  and  substantial,  by 
creating  a  fictitious  humanity,  and  conducting  it 
through  a  fictitious  life,  attended  with  fictitious  and 
exaggerated  incidents  and  circumstances,  fictitious 
and  false  views  and  conceptions  of  real  life  and  real 
humanity  are  fixed  in  the  mind.  What  can  be  more 
unreal  than  the  capricious  and  whimsical  laws  which 
govern  these  ideal  phantoms  ?  They  are  the  mere 
caprices  of  distorted  imaginations.  How  unlike  those 
unchanging  and  inexorable  laws  which  control  the 
human  character  as  it  is  represented  upon  the  great 
stage  of  actual  existence.  These  laws  are  the  ema- 
nations of  Divine  wisdom.  What  can  be  more  unreal 
than  these  ideal  phantoms  as  they  caper  about  in  the 
realms  of  fancy  ?  They  are  the  fantastic  creations 
of  visionary  minds.  How  different  from  man  as  he 
meets  and  struggles  with  the  realities  of  life,  enjoy- 
ing happiness  with  every  act  in  accordance  with  the 


INFLUENCE    OF   NOVEL   READING.          201 

requirements  of  his  nature,  and  suffering  with  every 
act  in  violation.  He  is  the  creation  of  God.  How 
can  it  be  expected  that  the  romantic  and  unreal  ac- 
tions and  adventures  of  the  former  can  furnish  to 
the  mind,  that  substantial  knowledge  which  only  can 
enable  the  latter  to  successfully  discharge  the  essen- 
tial duties  of  life.  Nothing  can  be  attended  with 
more  disastrous  consequences  than  the  neglect  or 
improper  performance  of  the  duties  which  nature  re- 
quires at  the  hand  of  man.  When  the  mind  becomes 
imbued  with  the  thrilling  and  romantic  adventures 
and  incidents  of  novel  life,  the  dull  realities  and  un- 
romantic  duties  of  real  life  are  exceedingly  distaste- 
ful and  disgusting.  The  mind  revolts  at  the  very 
thoughts  of  them,  and  feeds  upon  the  unsubstantial 
and  stimulating  materials  of  romance,  which  are  more 
palatable  to  the  perverted  taste,  until  the  reason,  in- 
.telligence,  and  judgment  of  the  mind  are  perverted 
and  falsified,  and  as  this  false  knowledge  only  in- 
creases the  fallibility  of  human  nature,  persons  thus 
become  the  victims  of  life's  stern  realities,  while  they 
are  dreaming  the  dreams  of  romance.  Substantial 
knowledge  is  the  pillar  of  cloud  by  day,  and  the  pil- 
;  lar  of  fire  by  night,  which  God  has  appointed  to  direct 
his  wandering  children  through  the  wilderness  of 
ignorance,  and  guide  them  into  the  promised  land  of 
true  happiness. 

The  thrilling  interest  which  gives  to  fiction  its 
most  fascinating  charm,  and  urges  the  eager  mind  to 
devour  the  images  of  pernicious  error,  is  not  the 
faithfulness  with  which  it  portrays  nature,  but  its 
very  oppositeness  to  it.  The  dull  transactions  of 
plodding  humanity,  the  developments  of  sluggish  time, 
the  stern  operations  of  nature,  the  moving  phantas- 
magoria of  real  events,  furnish  no  materials  for  the 
vitiated  mind  of  the  novel  reader ;  but  the  only 


202  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

feast  which  can  furnish  enjoyment  and  excitement 
for  such  minds,  are  the  strange  and  overdrawn  images 
whose  shapes  strike  the  mind  with  wonder,  not  be- 
cause of  their  extraordinary  faithfulness  and  truth, 
but  because  of  their  very  strangeness  and  fantastical- 
ness.  That  it  is  this  feature  of  the  fiction  which  so 
interests  the  novel  reader  is  perfectly  apparent,  from 
the  fact  that  the  narration  of  real  events  and  the 
exposition  of  the  true  principles  of  life,  when  un- 
adorned by  exaggeration  and  false  coloring,  are  utterly 
repugnant  and  insupportable.  Should  the  novelist 
attempt  a  true  portraiture  of  the  unromantic  realities 
of  life,  and  venture  upon  the  narration  of  plain,  un- 
colored  facts,  it  would  prove  fatal  to  the  reputation 
of  his  work,  and  the  novel  reader  would  throw  it 
aside  in  despair,  and  pronouncing  it  a  decided  bore, 
he  would  beat  a  hasty  retreat  to  the  most  adjacent 
bar-room,  there  to  resuscitate  his  drooping  spirits. 
Novel  Reading,  then,  not  only  prevents  the  acquisition 
of  substantial  knowledge,  which  only  can  aid  and 
direct  us  in  the  prosecution  of  a  useful  and-  happy 
life,  but  it  stores  the  mind  with  that  pernicious  error 
which  defeats  the  noblest  purposes  of  life,  and  leads 
to  misfortune  and  disappointment.  Says  the  poet: 

"A  novel  was  a  book 

Three  volumed,  and  once  read ;  and  oft  crammed  full 
Of  poisonous  error,  blackening  every  page ; 
And  oftener  still  of  trifling,  second-hand 
Remark,  and  old,  diseased,  putrid  thought ; 
And  miserable  incident,  at  war 
With  nature,  with  itself,  and  truth  at  war; 
Yet  charming  still  the  greedy  reader  on, 
Till  done — he  tried  to  recollect  his  thoughts, 
And  nothing  found  but  dreaming  emptiness."        POLLOK. 

Novel  Reading  intoxicates  the  mind.     It  is  an  un- 
natural, unsubstantial,  mental  stimulant,  and  it  has 


INFLUENCE   OF  NOVEL   READING.          203 

none  of  those  nurturing  qualities  which  sustain  and 
invigorate  the  virtuous  mind;  but  many  of  those  per- 
nicious qualities  which  pervert  and  degrade  it.  How 
analogous  to  the  intoxication  produced  hy  the  exces- 
sive use  of  ardent  spirits.  Ardent  spirits  are  an 
unnatural,  unsubstantial  physical  stimulant.  They 
possess  none  of  those  nurturing  qualities  which  sus- 
tain and  invigorate  the  human  body,  but  their  exces- 
sive use  poisons  and  debilitates  it.  The  one  intoxi- 
cates the  immortal  mind,  the  other  the  mortal  body. 
The  effects  of  the  physical  intoxication  may  pass 
away  with  the  fleeting  hour,  the  effects  of  the  mental 
intoxication  may  endure  when  time  shall  be  no  more. 
The  reeling  inebriate  is  certainly  one  of  the  most 
loathsome  and  disgusting  objects  which  fallen  hu- 
manity can  produce;  but  it  may  well  be  a  question 
of  doubt,  which  is  the  most  disgusting  to  the  mind 
of  virtuous  and  substantial  discipline,  the  crazy 
wranglings  and  boisterous  wickedness  of  the  wretched 
drunkard,  or  the  fulsome  jargon  and  pompous  non- 
sense of  the  novel  reader.  The  one  is  drunk  on 
whisky,  and  the  other  is  drunk  on  error. 

Yet  the  young  lady,  indulging  in  the  pleasing 
illusion  of  her  own  innocence,  while  reading  her 
ninety-ninth  novel,  will  turn  with  a  shudder,  as  from 
a  reptile  which  might  contaminate  her  own  virtuous 
purity,  from  the  young  man  who  has  indulged  in  a 
single  dram.  It  is  certainly  her  duty  to  discounten- 
ance dram-drinking,  but  it  is  likewise  her  duty  to 
beware  that  she  is  not  herself  intoxicated  with  a 
more  pernicious  drug.  Intemperance  does  not  con- 
sist alone  in  the  excessive  use  of  ardent  spirits,  but 
the  excessive  novel  reader  is  equally  as  intemperate 
as  the  excessive  dram-drinker.  How  many  are  the 
fair  and  lovely  beings  who  indulge  in  this  species  of 
intemperance  with  entire  innocence  of  purpose,  re- 


204          MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

joicing  in  the  pleasing  thought  of  their  own  untar- 
nished purity,  unconscious  that  the  destroyer  is 
lurking  near,  and  that  the  delicious  morsels  which 
she  so  eagerly  devours  are  only  the  treacherous  baits 
which  conceal  the  barbed  hooks  of  error,  which  fix 
themselves  relentlessly  in  all  the  faculties  of  the 
mind,  and,  like  a  deadly  serpent  concealed  beneath 
lovely  and  tempting  flowers,  as  she  fondly  caresses 
the  flowers,  the  serpent  stings  her  to  the  heart. 
Thou  art  to  be  pitied,  0  frail  humanity,  beset  on 
every  side  by  glittering  snares,  and  that  which  seems 
to  thee  most  beautiful  and  harmless,  too  frequently 
only  conceals  the  deadliest  venom. 

But  the  most  effectual  means  by  which  Novel 
Reading  accomplishes  the  evil  consequences  which  in- 
evitably result  from  it,  is,  that  it  destroys  all  taste  for 
more  substantial  reading.  As  the  fatal  serpent  holds 
the  innocent  bird,  which  is  doomed  to  destruction, 
spell-bound  by  the  fascinating  charm  of  its  eye,  until 
the  unconscious  victim  yields  itself  voluntarily  to  the 
destroyer,  so  does  Novel  Reading,  by  its  fascinating 
charm,  hold  the  innocent,  unsuspecting  mind  spell- 
bound, until  it  is  unable  to  extricate  itself  from  its 
pernicious  influences,  and  all  its  noblest  faculties, 
and  all  healthy  taste  for  sound  culture  and  substan* 
tial  knowledge,  yield  easy  prey  to  the  fatal  charmer. 
The  mind,  after  reveling  in  the  enchanting  regions 
of  fancy,  and  indulging  in  the  fond  delusions  of  vis- 
ionary happiness,  can  not,  without  the  most  painful 
inflictions,  make  the  sudden  transition  from  these 
fairy  lands  into  the  dull  sphere  of  reality.  This  is 
in  accordance  with  the  simplest  of  nature's  laws.  In 
the  mind,  as  well  as  the  body,  when  it  once  yields  to 
the  corrupting  influences  of  vice,  virtuous  effort  be- 
comes an  irksome  task.  The  poisoned  drops  of 
vicious  pleasure  become  sweet,  and  the  substantial 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL  READING.    205 

nourishment  of  virtuous  pleasure  becomes  distasteful. 
The  thrilling  and  unreal  incidents  of  novels  afford 
a  pleasing,  but  vicious  excitement,  to  the  mind,  and 
they  require  no  severe  mental  effort;  but  plain,  un- 
varnished facts  afford  no  unnatural  mental  stimu- 
lant, and  it  requires  virtuous  mental  effort  to  store 
their  useful  and  substantial  fruits  in  the  garners  of 
the  mind. 

As  the  vitiated  appetite  which  has  formed  its 
taste  and  desires  for  the  highly  seasoned  and  richly 
flavored  dishes  of  luxury,  which,  though  sweet  to  the 
palate,  are  poisonous  to  the  stomach,  and  destroy  its 
healthy  tone,  until  it  refuse  with  disgust  the  whole- 
some and  substantial  diet  which  sustains  and  invigo- 
rates the  system,  so,  likewise,  the  perverted  mind, 
which  has  formed  the  taste  and  habit  of  feasting 
upon  the  exciting  and  illusive  images  of  romance, 
can  scarcely  undertake  a  more  irksome  task  than  the 
investigation  of  the  principles  of  substantial  truth 
and  reality.  The  mind  is  in  such  a  morbid  state 
that  it  revolts  at  the  very  thoughts  of  substantial 
food.  And,  again :  the  appetite  which  has  been  de- 
praved by  the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  craves  nothing 
else,  and  continually  thirsts  for  some  unnatural  stim- 
ulant, to  elevate  it  above  its  proper  natural  state. 
The  mind  is  governed  by  precisely  the  same  natural 
law.  If  it  has  been  perverted  by  the  unnatural 
stimulant  of  exaggerated  fiction,  it  craves  nothing 
else,  it  hates  the  vulgar  cares  of  real  life,  and  loves 
to  drink  deeply  in  the  exciting  cup  of  romance,  to 
dream  the  dreams  of  visionary  unreality,  and  to 
elevate  itself  above  the  monotonous  affairs  of  stupid 
humanity. 

From  these  reflections,  we  perceive  that  the  suste- 
nance of  the  mind  and  of  the  body  is  regulated  by 
the  same  fundamental  principles  of  nature;  and, 


206  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

moreover,  that  as  a  healthy  and  vigorous  physical 
constitution  can  not  be  developed  by  stimulating  and 
unsubstantial  diet,  neither  can  a  vigorous  and  com- 
prehensive mind  be  developed  by  exciting  and  unsub- 
stantial mental  diet,  and  by  the  same  unyielding 
law  of  nature  that  the  artificial  appetite  craves 
stimulating  and  unwholesome,  and  loathes  substan- 
tial food,  the  perverted  mind  longs  for  the  excite- 
ment of  novels,  and  revolts  at  the  thought  of  sub- 
stantial knowledge.  How  perfectly  is  this  theory 
verified  by  the  experience  of  life  ?  If  we  look  around 
the  circle  of  our  friends  and  acquaintances,  we  shall 
invariably  find  that  the  devoted  novel  reader  has  an 
insuperable  distaste,  not  only  for  the  practical  facts 
of  substantial  knowledge,  but  also  for  the  practical 
duties  of  virtuous  life,  and  that  this  evil  principle 
fixes  itself  in  the  mind  in  proportion  as  the  person 
forsakes  reality  for  unreality. 

The  acquirement  of  truth  and  substantial  knowl- 
edge is  the  great  cardinal  virtue  of  the  human  mind, 
and  consequently  it  is  invested  with  the  charms  and 
beauties  which  inevitably  attend  the  practice  of  vir- 
tue. Truth  is  the  germ  from  which  spring  all  the 
noble  virtues  which  adorn  the  most  exalted  humanity, 
and,  therefore,  the  mind  in  which  the  gerrn  is  not 
implanted  can  not  produce  the  fruits  of  virtue. 
Virtue  can  not,  by  any  means,  result  from  falsehood 
or  error,  and,  as  it  has  been  abundantly  shown  that 
the  ideas  and  instruction  derived  from  novel  reading 
are  generally  false  and  erroneous,  it  follows  conclu- 
sively that  true  virtue  can  not  result  from  Novel 
Reading. "  True,  there  are  frequently  many  ennobling 
and  elevating  principles  taught  in  novels,  but  they 
are  generally  taught  together  with  so  much  error 
and  exaggeration,  that  the  beneficial  influences  are 
overcome  by  the  evil  consequences.  If  the  teaching 


INFLUENCE   OF  NOYEL    READING.  207 

of  the  ennobling  and  elevating  principles  of  truth 
be  the  object,  we  protest  against  this  willful  adul- 
teration. It  is  this  adulteration  which  depraves  the 
mental  appetite,  and  thus  prevents  the  mind  from 
drawing  forth  perennial  streams  of  virtue  and  hap- 
piness from  the  fountains  of  eternal  truth. 

How  melancholy  is  the  reflection  that  the  human 
mind,  the  divine  impress  of  the  eternal  soul,  the 
master-piece  of  God's  creation,  whose  faculties,  soar- 
ing on  the  wings  of  truth,  scale  the  dizzy  hights 
of  science,  and  search  the  secret  recesses  of  nature, 
until  she  yields  her  rich  treasures  of  knowledge, 
can  become  so  perverted  and  vitiated  as  to  be  lost  to 
all  the  charms  and  beauties  of  truth,  that  purest  gift 
of  Heaven's  bountiful  hand,  the  immaculate  flint 
from  which  the  rugged  strokes  of  life  strike  forth 
living  sparks  of  consolation  and  joy,  and  casts  a 
heavenly  radiance  over  the  fading  bloom  of  human 
mortality,  and  sinks  to  its  earthly  sleep  to  rise  in 
brighter  effulgence  beyond  the  gloomy  portals  of 
the  grave.  The  mind  which  is  thus  rendered  in- 
capable of  appreciating  the  charms  and  delights 
which  are  ever  attendant  upon  the  investigation  of 
truth,  is  deprived  of  the  purest  and  sweetest  intel- 
lectual pleasures  which  mortal  man  can  enjoy. 
Thought,  that  divine  essence  of  incarnate  man, 
which,  divested  of  all  corporeality,  revels  in  unre- 
strained freedom  in  the  illimitable  realms  of  univer- 
sal truth,  and  traveling  on  the  wings  of  infiniteness, 
through  all  the  vistas  of  the  past,  it  scans  the  im- 
penetrable embattlements  which  guard  the  jealous 
future,  now  holding  communion  with  the  infinitesi- 
mal, then  contemplating  the  vast  proportions  of  dis- 
tant Jupiter,  even  thought  is  diverted  from  its  noble 
purpose  of  unlocking  the  fountains  of  truth,  and 


208  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

sent  in  bewildering  pursuit  of  fleeting  phantoms  and 
sparkling  error. 

But  how  absurd  is  the  practice  of  all  folly  and 
vice.  Without  considering  them  with  regard  to  the 
question  of  right  and  wrong,  even  then  they  have 
absolutely  nothing  to  recommend  their  practice. 
Perverted  gratification  is  their  only  apology,  for 
not  even  the  most  abandoned  debauchee  will  pretend 
that  vice  or  folly  is  practiced  for  the  accomplishment 
of  any  good  purpose,  but  only  for  the  fleeting  and 
seductive  pleasure  and  excitement  which  is  produced 
by  the  gratification  of  perverted  faculties  and  artificial 
appetites.  Pleasure  and  gratification  are  their  only 
pleas,  and,  therefore,  if  more  pleasure  and  gratifica- 
tion can  be  derived  from  the  practice  of  virtue,  vice 
and  folly  are  without  an  excuse.  The  attainment  of 
happiness  is  certainly  the  object  of  every  human 
being,  and  consequently  that  line  of  conduct  should 
be  adopted  which  confers  most  of  the  pleasures  and 
enjoyments  of  life,  and  inflicts  the  fewest  of  its 
sufferings  and  miseries.  But  how  strange  it  seems 
when  we  behold  man,  boasting  of  being  a  moral  and 
a  rational  being,  persistently  pursuing  in  that  course 
of  conduct  which  most  effectually  defeats  the  aim 
and  object  of  all  human  conduct,  the  attainment 
of  happiness.  There  are  really  only  two  paths,  al- 
though differing  in  degrees,  by  which  we  can  travel 
the  journey  of  life ;  the  one  is  the  path  of  virtue, 
and  the  other  the  path  of  vice — the  one  leads  to 
happiness,  the  other  to  misery — and  although  these 
paths  are  so  plainly  marked  that  no  man  need  mis- 
take them,  and  although  all  mankind  are  aiming  to 
travel  the  path  which  leads  to  happiness,  yet,  by 
far  the  greater  portion,  by  some  strange  infatuation, 
take  the  path  which  leads  to  misery. 

No  human  act  can  be  wrong  in  the  sight  of  God, 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL  READING.    209 

which  is  not  punished  as  a  violation  of  his  natural 
laws,  and  every  act  which  incurs  the  penalties  of  a 
violated  natural  law,  is  a  sin.  This  may  make  a  very 
materially  different  distribution  of  right  and  wrong 
from  that  which  is  made  by  the  prevailing  systems 
of  religion.  It  may  condemn  many  of  the  favorite 
vices  which  the  most  straight-out  professors  of  reli- 
gion indulge  in  with  the  most  perfect  ease  of  con- 
science, and  without  the  slightest  suspicion  that  they 
are  violating  the  will  of  God.  The  orthodox  vices 
of  the  age  are  almost  as  innumerable  as  the  stars  of 
heaven.  It  is  the  great  misfortune  of  the  prevailing 
systems  of  religion  that  it  is  too  frequently  the  case, 
that  acts  which  receive  the  frowns  of  God,  receive  their 
smiles,  and  acts  which  receive  His  smiles,  receive 
their  frowns.  There  are  thus  great  discrepancies 
between  the  will  of  God  and  the  prevailing  creeds 
of  religion.  If  we  differ  thus  with  many  professors 
of  religion,  it  is  with  the  greatest  respect  for  their 
sincerity  and  devotion  wherever  we  find  it.  But 
wherever  we  find  the  will  of  God  written  with  his 
own  hand  in  the  nature  of  things,  we  are  going  to 
read  it,  and  read  it  aloud,  regardless  of  the  opposi- 
tion which  we  shall  thereby  incur.  This  is  the  only 
guide  which  can  lead  us  safely  through  the  mazes  of 
error  and  absurdity  which  human  fallibility  and  cre- 
dulity have  engrafted  upon  those  truths,  which,  of  all 
others,  are  most  important  to  man. 

Every  act  in  violation  of  the  will  of  God  is  a  sin, 
but  the  natural  laws  are  the  will  of  God,  therefore, 
every  act  in  violation  of  the  natural  laws  is  a  sin, 
and  as  all  human  suffering  and  misery  are  the  con- 
sequences of  the  violations  of  natural  laws,  it  follows 
that  all  human  suffering  and  misery  are  the  conse- 
quences of  our  sins  against  God.  Every  headache, 
every  pain,  every  premature  infirmity  of  our  nature, 

18 


210  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

is  the  result  of  our  own  acts,  and  every  such  act  is  a 
sin  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  therefore,  where  members 
of  church  suffer  as  much  pain  and  misery  as  those 
who  are  not  members  of  church,  they  are  equally  as 
great  sinners.  But  it  may  be  said,  that  it  is  frequently 
the  case  that  persons  who  avowedly  violate  the  most 
essential  principles  of  virtue  and  morality,  do  not 
suffer  as  much  pain  and  misery  as  the  most  pious 
Christians.  In  the  first  place,  as  already  shown,  pioua 
Christians  do  not  suffer  pain  and  misery  unless  they 
have  been  violating  natural  laws,  and  thus  sinning 
against  God ;  and  in  the  next  place,  the  persons  who 
thus  violate  the  principles  of  virtue  and  morality, 
suffer  much  pain  and  misery  from  perverted  appetites 
and  painful  misgivings  of  conscience,  from  which  the 
person  who  does  not  thus  act  is  exempt. 

What  two  situations  in  life  can  afford  a  more  strik- 
ing contrast,  than  that  of  the  person  who  feels  at 
peace  with  God  and  man,  and  whose  conscience  brings 
the  sweetest  consolations  of  religion,  and  that  of  the 
person  whose  inward  monitor  continually  rebukes 
him  for  his  wayward  wickedness,  and  dread  and 
doubt  embitter  all  the  enjoyments  of  life.  Say  you 
that  there  is  no  misery  attending  the  violation  of  the 
moral  laws  of  nature  ?  Ah,  those  mental  agonies  and 
torturings  which  overtake  the  transgressor,  and  plunge 
him  into  the  torments  of  a  mental  hell,  are  the  sever- 
est and  most  protracted  sufferings  which  man  can  en- 
dure. How  serene,  how  joyous,  how  happy,  are  the 
days  of  him  who  strictly  conforms  to  the  moral- 
ity of  true  religion ;  how  anxious,  how  unreconciled, 
how  unhappy,  are  the  days  of  him,  who  is  continually 
haunted  by  the  apparitions  of  his  own  wickedness, 
and  tormented  by  the  insatiable  cravings  of  his  per- 
verted faculties  and  passions. 

The  pleasures  of  vice  are  peculiarly  fleeting ;  the 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL  READING.    211 

sweetness  of  the  indulgence  soon  passes  away,  but 
the  bitterness  of  the  consequent  penalty  leaves  its 
permanent  poisonous  wound.  Every  vice  is  armed 
with  deadly  fangs,  and  the  deluded  victim  grasps  at 
the  seductive  pleasures  which  invest  the  serpent 
tempter  with  so  many  attractive  charms,  and  the  illu- 
sive pleasures  and  charms  pass  away  with  the  fleet- 
ing hour,  but  the  serpent  has  fixed  his  fangs  in  the 
heart  of  the  victim.  Plain,  honest  virtue  assumes 
no  fanciful  garbs  to  conceal  poisonous  fangs,  but 
loved  for  herself,  her  lovely  charms  and  beauties  be- 
come brighter  and  purer,  as  they  pass  through  the 
crucible  of  life's  cares  and  troubles;  she  has  no 
treacherous  sting  concealed  beneath  vanishing  beau- 
ties and  fleeting  pleasures,  but  she  confers  those  sub- 
stantial enjoyments  which  render  human  life  the  epi- 
sode of  eternal  happiness.  Man  has  often  seen 
the  gratifications  of  vice  vanish  with  the  hour;  yet 
why  does  he  still  permit  them  to  entice  him  on  to  his 
ruin  and  misery,  and  that  too,  while  in  full  view  of 
the  only  paradise  which  fallen  humanity  can  enjoy, 
with  its  gates  spread  wide  open,  and  within  his  reach, 
and  all  its  enchanting  pleasures  inviting  him  to 
enter  ? 

With  each  succeeding  indulgence  in  vice,  man 
yields  easier  to  its  temptations,  each  successive  dis- 
sipation blunts  his  moral  feeling,  and  adds  deeper 
dye  to  the  blackness  of  his  heart,  and  thus,  as  he 
yields,  he  sinks  lower  and  lower  into  the  depths  of 
misery  and  depravity,  until  exhausted  nature  sinks 
under  the  weight  of  accumulated  miseries,  *nd  con- 
signs the  Avretched  clod  of  humanity  to  its  mother 
dust,  deeply  contaminated  Avith  the  woes  of  misdi- 
rected human  life.  Now  look  upon  virtue.  With 
each  succeeding  act  it  grows  more  pleasing,  and  the 
mind,  imbibing  the  inspiring  draughts,  revels  in  the 


212  MODERN    FANCIES    AND   FOLLIES. 

most  delightful  and  substantial  enjoyments  of  life, 
until  all  the  perverted  appetites  and  evil  passions 
which  so  dangerously  beset  humanity  seem  to  be 
eradicated  from  its  nature.  How  easy  is  it  to  be 
happy — how  useless  is  it  to  be  unhappy. 

If  we  view  man  in  the  light  of  his  actions,  uni- 
versal humanity  appears  to  be  an  incomprehensible 
mixture  of  good  and  bad  principles.  Many  individ- 
ual members  of  the  human  family  display  these  quali- 
ties and  act  in  a  manner  which  justly  entitle  them 
to  the  apppellation  of  moral  and  rational  beings, 
and  again,  there  are  many  others,  whose  actions  in 
the  most  favorable  light  in  which  we  can  view  them, 
will  not  entitle  them  to  this  appellation,  but  whose 
only  object  in  life  seems  to  be  to  delve  into  the 
deepest  hell  of  human  misery.  Yet  all  this,  so 
mysterious  to  the  superficial  observer,  can  not  be 
mysterious  to  the  student  of  nature.  It  is  neither 
the  result  of  the  special  dispensations  of  Providence, 
nor  the  haphazard  happenings  of  chance,  but  it  is 
the  consequence  of  the  operation  of  the  unchanging 
laws  of  nature  upon  the  circumstances  produced  by 
human  conduct.  It  is  the  development  of  the  hu- 
man mind  which  determines  the  question  of  vice  and 
virtue.  If  the  mind  is  disciplined  in  error  and  false 
instruction,  they  start  it  adrift  in  the  channels  of 
vice  ;  if  it  has  received  the  impress  of  truth  and  sub- 
stantial knowledge,  the  foundations  of  virtuous  ac- 
tion are  deeply  and  firmly  laid. 

The  first  lessons  in  vice  must,  necessarily,  be  very 
simple,  And  not  require  a  great  exercise  of  perverted 
faculties,  for  the  virtuous  mind  is  no  more  qualified 
to  accomplish  the  huge  monstrosities  of  vice  than 
the  untutored  mind  is  to  master  the  difficult  abstrac- 
tions of  science.  Every  degraded  wretch  has  seen 
the  time  when  he  would  have  startled  with  horror  at 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL  READING.    213 

the  very  thought  of  acts  which  he  now  commits 
with  the  utmost  indifference.  In  such  cases,  the 
pure  and  spotless  mind  at  first  receives  the  stains 
of  slight  indulgences,  and  becomes  fascinated  with 
the  illusory  pleasures,  and  thus  it  unconsciously 
drifts  into  the  current  of  vice,  and  sinks  through 
all  its  degrees,  until  it  reaches  the  lowest  depth  of 
degradation  and  perversion.  Vice  steals  the  eye 
of  reason,  falsifies  the  guide  of  intelligence,  and 
destroys  the  sagacity  of  judgment;  and  man,  thus 
blinded  and  misdirected,  grasps  at  the  fleeting  pleas- 
ures of  vice,  and  is  plunged  into  the  depths  of  its 
miseries.  Vice  is  not,  then,  the  necessary  result  of 
human  rationality.  God  did  not  arbitrarily  design  a 
part  of  the  human  family  to  be  virtuous  and  a  part 
to  be  vicious,  but  he  has  endowed  all  mankind  with 
the  faculties  of  rationality,  and  offers  the  rewards  of 
virtue  as  the  inducement  to  their  proper  exercise, 
and  denounces  the  punishment  of  vice,  to  prevent 
their  perversion  ;  and  hence,  if  human  beings  are 
determined  to  be  unhappy,  and  persist  in  violating 
the  laws  of  their  Creator,  which  he  has  instituted 
for  their  welfare,  it  is  not  His  fault,  but  their  own. 

These  principles  of  nature,  which  are  applicable 
to  all  vice,  are  especially  applicable  to  the  particular 
vice  of  Novel  Reading.  With  each  succeeding  in- 
dulgence it  fixes  itself  more  firmly  in  the  affections 
of  the  mind,  and  with  each  indulgence  it  yields  more 
readily,  until  it  becomes  completely  the  slave  of  the 
fatal  vice ;  and,  as  the  mind  is  brought  more  and 
more  under  its  fatal  influence,  it  acquires  an  aver- 
sion for  all  virtuous  effort,  and  turns  with  disgust 
from  the  real  enjoyments  of  truth  and  substantial 
knowledge,  to  caress  the  feeling  phantasms  of  ro- 
mance, and  to  enjoy  the  pernicious  and  illusory 
pleasures  of  mental  vice.  Every  virtue  has  its 


214  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

opposing  vice,  and,  as  the  cardinal  virtue  of  the 
mind  consists  in  the  acquisition  of  truth  and  sub- 
stantial knowledge,  its  opposing  vice  consists  in 
indulging  in  exciting  error  and  exaggerated  fiction. 
Now,  this  has  all  the  evil  consequences  which  neces- 
sarily attend  the  practice  of  vice,  and  all  its  pleas- 
ures and  enjoyments  are  fleeting  and  illusory,  and 
none  of  those  substantial  benefits  and  enjoyments 
can  result  from  it  which  can  be  derived  only  from 
the  practice  of  virtue. 

Having  thus  established  the  fact  that  Novel  Read- 
ing is  a  vice,  it  follows,  as  a  necessary  consequence, 
that  pleasures  and  enjoyments  to  be  derived  from  it, 
can  not  possibly  be  equal  to  those  to  be  derived 
from  its  opposite  virtue,  as  the  pleasures  and  enjoy- 
ments of  life  to  be  derived  from  the  practice  of  vice, 
never  can  equal  those  to  be  derived  from  the  prac- 
tice of  virtue.  Hence  its  superlative  folly.  Like 
all  other  vices,  it  is  practiced  for  the  sake  of  its 
pleasure  and  excitement,  but,  as  with  all  other 
vices,  these  vanish  with  the  hour,  but  leave  behind 
them  their  more  lasting  evil  consequences.  The 
Creator,  in  his  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness,  has  so 
instituted  the  scheme  of  nature,  that  man  derives 
all  his  sweetest  enjoyments  from  those  acts  which 
are  morally  right,  and  all  his  bitterest  woes  from 
those  which  are  morally  wrong.  We  have  already 
demonstrated  that  true  virtue  consists  in  conform- 
ing to  the  requirements  or  principles  of  nature, 
and  that  vice  consists  in  the  violation  of  them,  and 
also  that  all  human  happiness  is  derived  from  the 
practice  of  virtue,  and  that  all  human  suffering  and 
misery  are  the  results  of  the  practice  of  vice.  Then, 
founding  ourselves  upon  these  incontrovertible  prin- 
ciples, and  proving  that  Novel  Reading  is  a  vice, 
it  follows  conclusively  that  it  can  not  be  the  means 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL   READING.  215 

of  promoting  true  happiness,  but  that  its  practice 
must  inevitably  produce  suffering  and  misery.  How 
faithfully  is  this  verified  by  practical  experience, 
where  we  see  that  habitual  novel  readers  never  ac- 
complish any  noble  purpose  in  life,  and,  conse- 
quently, fail  to  enjoy  any  of  its  true  and  substantial 
pleasures ;  and,  like  the  vitiated  appetite  of .  the 
intemperate  dram-drinker,  the  perverted  mind  craves 
the  unnatural  stimulant,  and  when  the  excitement 
passes  away,  and  the  necessary  reaction  takes  place, 
the  victim  suffers  from  severe  attacks  of  the  "blues," 
and  thus  life  is  painfully  and  uselessly  whiled  away 
amid  the  vexations  and  disappointments  which  neces- 
sarily attend  the  vain  attempt  to  make  a  romance  out 
of  real  life. 

But  how  beneficial  and  substantial  are  the  pleas- 
ures of  true  mental  virtue.  How  pleasing  to  the 
virtuous  mind  to  hold  familiar  converse  with  the 
great  minds  which  have  existed  in  the  ages  of  time, 
to  be  inspired  by  their  thoughts,  to  be  moved  by 
their  feelings,  and  to  be  thrilled  by  their  passions, 
while  the  soul  revels  in  the  pleasing  emotions,  and 
every  selfish  motive,  every  impure  thought,  and 
every  vexation  and  trouble  is  banished  from  the  mind, 
and  it  is  held  entranced  by  its  own  exquisite  pleas- 
ures, roaming  in  the  regions  of  unearthly  delight, 
and  drinking  deeply  at  the  purest  fountains  of  true 
mental  virtue.  How  ennobling  to  human  nature, 
and  how  it  soars  above  all  the  temptations  which 
so  sorely  beset  depraved  humanity,  and  how  it  forti- 
fies the  mind  with  the  strongest  embattlements  of 
virtue  which  all  the  cohorts  of  vice  and  misery  shall 
not  be  able  to  overthrow. 

It  is  a  melancholy  pleasure  to  trace  the  page  of 
history,  to  behold,  in  the  vision  of  the  mind,  the  mov- 
ing panorama  of  real  events,  and  the  inexorable  work- 


216  MODERN  FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

ings  of  nature's  laws,  to  behold  the  emergings  and  sub- 
mergings  of  the  human  race,  as  it  has  so  often  been 
deluged  in  the  oceans  of  vice  and  misery,  and,  as  it 
has  so  often  appeared  as  if  the  race  of  Adam  must 
irrecoverably  sink  under  the  weight  of  its  own  iniqui- 
ties, to  watch  with  anxious  eye  the  great  struggle 
upon  the  stage  of  human  existence,  and  to  behold 
the  star  of  human  progress  rise  in  the  midst  of  the 
brightening  horizon  of  human  improvement,  and 
sink  again  frequently  in  floods  of  human  gore,  and 
rise  again  and  struggle  amid  the  impending  clouds 
until  it  finally  shines  forth  in  the  bright  but  not 
unsullied  luster  of  the  nineteenth  century.  How 
melancholy  is  the  retrospect  of  human  history. 
Man,  in  continual  rebellion  against  his  own  true  in- 
terests, perverting,  with  singular  perverseness,  every 
principle  and  motive  which  could  conduce  to  his 
true  happiness,  his  life  has  been  one  continual  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  of  nature,  and,  consequently,  one 
continual  scene  of  suffering  and  misery.  No  other 
animal  that  has  ever  inhabited  the  earth  has  been  so 
prodigal  in  the  shedding  of  blood,  or  committed  such 
revolting  actions,  or  heaped  such  accumulated  moun- 
tains of  misery  and  woe  upon  his  fellow-animals. 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  his  actions,  it  appears  as  if 
the  earth  was  the  arena  of  a  vast  amphitheater,  in 
which  men  were  let  loose,  like  so  many  gladiators,  to 
shed  each  other's  blood,  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
myriads  of  hell.  In  the  light  of  the  past,  aggre- 
gated humanity  appears  to  be  less  reasonable  and 
humane  than  the  beast  of  prey  ;  for  while  they  de- 
stroy only  when  it  is  necessary  for  their  own  exist- 
ence, man  sheds  the  blood  of  man,  and  leaves  his 
prey  to  the  devouring  vultures,  and  the  bones  to 
whiten  upon  the  plain,  only  to  gratify  his  perverted 
and  hellish  passions.  "Peace,"  says  Segur,  "is  the 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOYEL  READING.  217 

dream  of  the  wise ;  war  is  the  history  of  men ;  youth 
listens  without  attention  to  those  who  seek  to  lead 
it  by  the  path  of  reason  to  happiness,  and  rushes 
with  irresistible  violence  into  the  arms  of  the  phan- 
tom which  leads  it,  by  the  light  of  glory,  to  destruc- 
tion." 

If  all  this  is  necessarily  so,  what  an  unmitigated 
curse  did  God  inflict  upon  man,  when  he  endowed 
him  with  the  faculties  of  rationality.  Yet,  who  will 
say  that  it  is  so?  The  greatest  gift  that  God  be- 
stowed upon  man,  the  gift  of  rationality,  is  per- 
verted by  human  conduct,  until  there  results  from  it 
the  greatest  evils  that  ever  afflicted  the  human  race. 
Thus  are  God's  most  inestimable  blessings  converted 
by  human  conduct  into  man's  direst  curses.  This  is 
because  the  discipline  or  instruction  by  which  the 
reason,  intelligence,  and  judgment  of  the  mind  are 
formed,  is  false,  and  these  false  and  pernicious  prin- 
ciples being  impressed  upon  the  minds  of  each  suc- 
ceeding generation ;  each  thus  following  the  same  false 
lights,  is  led  into  the  same  whirlpools  of  destruction 
which  engulfed  its  predecessor.  Thus,  it  is  obvious 
that  as  the  light  of  truth  and  virtuous  knowledge 
breaks  upon  the  mind  of  man,  and  he  thus  learns 
the  principles  of  his  nature,  and  what  his  true  inter- 
ests are,  the  gift  of  rationality  will  be  directed  to 
its  true  design,  the  promotion  of  substantial  happi- 
ness, instead  of,  by  its  perversion,  being  the  princi- 
pal cause  of  all  human  suffering  and  misery. 

The  meek  and  lowly  saint,  who  is  the  patron  of 
every  Christian  virtue,  and  the  savage  and  blood- 
thirsty Tartar,  who  delights  only  in  acts  of  blood 
and  plunder,  are  not  so  because  they  are  different 
species  of  man,  but  because  they  are  differently 
educated.  Man  is  not  necessarily  cruel  and  wicked, 
but  he  is  endowed  with  stronger  faculties  and  pas-  • 

19 


218  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

sions  than  any  other  earthly  creature,  and,  there- 
fore, when  these  faculties  and  passions  are  perverted 
and  misdirected,  they  necessarily  lead  him  into  more 
monstrous  vices  and  to  the  commission  of  more  wicked 
deeds.  When  man  shall  become  acquainted  with 
himself,  and  understand  the  laws  of  his  nature,  and 
shall  tread  the  paths  of  virtue  in  the  full  blaze  of 
their  light,  and  shall  carefully  eradicate  from  the 
discipline  of  the  mind  every  withering  influence, 
every  impure  sentiment,  and  every  false  principle; 
then,  and  not  until  then,  will  vice  and  folly  be  driven 
from  the  earth,  and  the  spirit  of  true  fellowship  and 
brotherly  love  will  dwell  in  the  abodes  of  man. 

But  why  should  we  specify  the  pleasures  which 
attend  the  practice  of  mental  virtue,  the  study  of 
substantial  truth  ?  All  the  realms  of  reality  are  clus- 
tering with  beauties  ;  the  tables  of  nature  are  spread 
upon  every  side,  filled  with  sumptuous  supplies  of  in- 
tellectual delicacies,  and  inviting  every  person  freely 
to  partake  of  the  feast.  But,  alas,  the  mind  which 
has  been  perverted  by  the  excitement  and  error  of 
exaggerated  fiction,  can  not  enjoy  the  pleasures  of 
these  mental  festivals,  but  revolts  at  the  very  idea  of 
such  substantial  food.  How  we  pity  them,  as  they 
turn  again  to  pursue  the  fleeting  pleasures  of  vice, 
only  to  catch  its  miseries,  and  thus  deprive  them- 
selves of  all  the  substantial  pleasures  and  benefits 
which  can  be  enjoyed  only  by  the  practice  of  ster- 
ling mental  virtue 

When  we  remember  the  firm  hold  which  the  vice 
of  Novel  Reading  has  obtained  upon  the  affections  of 
the  people,  and  the  consequences  which  necessarily 
flow  from  it,  we  must  conclude  that  the  evils  which 
result  from  it  are  wide-spread,  and  of  the  most  per- 
nicious character.  Like  a  moral  gangrene,  it  ia 
spreading  itself  over  the  living  virtues  of  the  mind. 


INFLUENCE  OF  NOVEL  READING.     219 

Three  hundred  works  of  fiction,  generally  of  the 
most  exaggerated  and  worthless  character,  were  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States  in  the  year  1856,  and 
spread  broadcast  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land,  to  bring  forth  their  pernicious  fruits.  In 
the  language  of  the  poet : 

"The  story-telling  tribe,  alone  outran 
All  calculation  far,  and  left  behind, 
Lagging,  the  swiftest  numbers :  dreadful  even 
To  fancy,  was  their  never  ceasing  birth ; 
And  room  had  lacked,  had  not  their  life  been  short." 
wyi4^dni$f«>  >    .«•   •  '.. :    .  ,,'••  •••  •  :•  -  -(••.:•    v-  >  '~< 

It  can  not  be  surprising  that  an  abundant  crop  of 
vice  and  folly  should  be  produced  by  such  an  exten- 
sive sowing  of  error  and  exaggeration.  Virtue,  mo- 
rality, religion,  justice,  every  ennobling  principle  of 
human  nature  reels  under  the  heavy  blow.  The 
young  man  who  is  just  commencing  the  strife  arid 
contentions  of  life,  and  who  has  been  faithful  in  his 
studies  of  romance,  imagines  that  he  has  only  to  act 
romantically ;  that  is,  to  plunge  into  all  kinds  of  wild 
and  extravagant  adventures  and  visionary  schemes, 
and  some  fortuitous  accident  or  romantic  train  of 
events,  remote,  indeed,  from  the  regular  operations 
of  nature,  will  shower  down  upon  him  all  the  enjoy- 
ments of  position  and  wealth,  and  like  a  novel  hero 
he  will  certainly  end  his  trials  and  troubles  amid  the 
dazzling  blaze  of  glory  and  honor.  Alas,  poor  youth, 
old  dame  fortune  comes  hobbling  along  in  her  regular 
time,  and  shears  off  all  his  redundant  vagaries  to  the 
very  skin,  and  leaves  him  thus  exposed  to  the  bitter 
storms  of  life.  It  is  an  undoubted  fact,  that  Novel 
Reading  induces  a  thorough  distaste  for  all  the  use- 
ful occupations  of  life,  and,  consequently,  it  has  a 
decided  tendency  to  lead  to  idleness ;  idleness  leads 
to  vice ;  vice  ends  in  crime  j  and  crime  fills  the  pene- 


220  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 


tentiaries,  and  supplies  the  scaffold  with  its  victims. 
Here,  then,  is  the  great  manufacturing  establishment 
which  is  daily  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  loafers, 
vagabonds  and  filibusters,  and  surely  it  is  doing  a 
most  flourishing  business. 

But  the  most  blighting  evils  of  Novel  Reading  does 
not  fall  upon  the  sterner  sex.  It  is  the  peculiar  and 
engrossing  vice  of  the  softer  sex.  Woman  is  pecu- 
liarly controlled  by  her  passions,  which  seek  to  en- 
twine themselves  around  the  object  of  her  love,  and 
blooming  into  the  sweetest  flowers  of  affection,  they 
spread  their  enlivening  fragrance  into  every  sphere 
of  life,  expanding  their  lovely  colors  amid  the  sun- 
shine of  prosperity,  and  pouring  the  healing  balms 
of  consolation  into  the  wounds  which  adversity  inflicts. 
Woman  being  thus  endowed,  is  the  peculiar  victim 
of  Novel  Reading.  She  eagerly  quaffs  the  sparkling 
drops  of  exciting  error,  which,  appealing  directly  to 
the  strongest  emotions  of  her  nature,  leads  her  very 
soul  captive  into  the  bewitching  regions  of  fancy,  and 
thus  the  fairest  gem  of  God's  creation,  which  he  has 
placed  as  a  shining  light  in  the  firmament  of  life,  to 
light  up  the  dreary  walks  of  man,  casts  none  of  its  en- 
livening radiance  into  the  gloomiest  valleys  of  reality. 
Thus  she  becomes  a  dreaming  automaton  like  a 
lovely  specter,  moving  amid  the  shades  of  time,  while 
her  soul  is  reveling  in  the  fantastic  visions  of  un- 
reality, and  like  the  rose  which  "wasting  its  fragrance 
upon  the  desert  air,"  she  is  wasting  upon  ideal  phan- 
toms those  loveliest  passions  and  purest  affections 
which  were  designed  to  sweeten  the  bitterest  cups  of 
real  life. 

Thus  have  we  traced  the  evil  consequences  which 
result  from  novel  reading.  We  have  sought  to  found 
ourselves  upon  the  immutable  principles  of  nature, 
and  from  thence  to  trace  these  evils  from. their  foun- 


INFLUENCE   OF   NOVEL   READING.  221 

tain  sources,  and  observe  their  pernicious  influences 
as  they  spread  themselves  through  the  various  rela- 
tions of  life.  We  have  seen  it  fixing  its  error  firmly 
in  the  mind,  and  holding  undisputed  sway  over  its 
purest  affections,  and  controlling  all  those  hidden 
springs  which  move  the  complicated  and  mysterious 
machine  of  humanity,  secretly,  and  almost  unre- 
huked,  working  out  its  pernicious  effects;  and  while 
the  unconscious  victim,  lured  by  its  captivating 
charms,  is  thrown  off  its  guard  against  any  lurking 
danger,  the  specious  and  fascinating  error  has  regis- 
tered its  false  principles  upon  the  susceptible  tab- 
lets of  the  mind,  and  by  its  siren  song  lured  it 
into  the  vortex  of  its  ruin.  As  truth  is  the  only 
compass  which  can  guide  the  wanderer,  upon  the 
boundless  ocean  of  humanity,  into  the  harbors  of 
success  and  happiness,  so  error,  in  every  shape,  is 
the  counter-attraction  which  reverses  the  needle  of 
the  compass  of  life,  and  so  leads  the  ill-fated  mari- 
ner upon  the  shoals,  and  into  the  whirlpools  of  de- 
struction. There  is  nothing  which  can  so  much  con- 
duce to  a  long  life  of  usefulness  and  happiness,  and 
so  effectually  display,  in  their  native  beauties,  the 
charms  and  pleasures  which  attend  the  practice  of 
virtue,  as  a  mind  well  stored  with  those  fundamental 
truths  which  underlie  the  very  foundations  of  our 
existence,  for  every  human  undertaking  which  has 
not  its  corner-stone  securely  placed  upon  the  im- 
movable rock  of  eternal  truth,  must  inevitably  fail. 
Nothing,  save  the  light  of  truth,  can  guide  man  to 
the  accomplishment  of  his  true  destiny;  how  care- 
fully, then,  should  we  eradicate  every  false  principle, 
and  every  pernicious  influence  which  can  obscure 
the  light  which  is  to  guide  us  amid  the  troubled 
waves  of  time,  and  finally  bring  us  to  our  eternal 
anchoring  upon  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  God. 


ESSAY   IV. 


THE   FOLLIES   OF   FASHION. 

«  •  "•  -!  »  .tvr'*vit 

MAN  is  naturally  an  imitative  being.  Through 
all  the  ages  of  his  existence,  in  all  conditions,  an<\ 
under  all  circumstances,  he  has  continually  displayed 
a  natural  propensity  for  imitation.  But  the  means 
by  which  these  propensities  are  gratified,  in  regard 
to  a  particular  mode  of  dress,  are  not  fixed  or  univer- 
sal, but,  on  the  contrary,  they  vary  with  every  age 
and  nation,  and  are,  perhaps,  the  most  ephemeral 
and  fluctuating  of  all  the  transitory  affairs  of  human- 
ity. Each  different  age  of  the  world  has  had  its  dis- 
tinctive mode  of  dress,  and  each  nation  of  people,  in 
each  of  these  different  ages,  has  had  its  peculiar 
national  costume.  The  costume  of  a  people  is  a  dis- 
tinctive feature  of  independent  nationality,  and  thus 
the  purest  motives  of  patriotism  are  not  unfrequently 
intimately  associated  with  the  mode  of  dress.  Indeed, 
it  frequently  happens,  that  long  after  that  nationality 
has  fallen  under  the  fatal  strokes  of  its  destroyers, 
its  unfortunate  citizens  devotedly  cling  to  their  pecu- 
liar costume,  as  the  last  lingering  memento  of  their 
departed  glory  and  prosperity.  When  this  occurs, 
fashion  and  patriotism  are  very  nearly  synonymous, 
and  fashion  is  purified  by  the  chastening  emotions  of 
patriotism,  and  instead  of  leading  its  followers  into 
deplorable  vices  and  follies,  it  urges  them  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  those  heroic  deeds  in  defense  of  their 
(222) 


THE   FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  223 

liberty,  which  constitute  the  only  beauties  upon  which 
the  virtuous  mind  loves  to  dwell  amid  all  the  horrors 
of  human  carnage  and  blood.  Neither  is  it  unfre- 
quent  that  mode  of  dress  becomes  the  symbol  of  re- 
ligion and  morality ;  but,  in  such  cases,  it  becomes  as 
plain  and  unchangeable  as  the  principles  of  which  it 
is  symbolical. 

Thus  we  see  that  fashion  may  even  be  exalted  to 
grandeur  and  nobleness ;  that  it  may  become  an  incen- 
tive which  urges  man  to  deeds  of  valor  and  patriotism, 
and  to  acts  of  religion  and  philanthropy.  And  as  it 
is  founded  upon  natural  propensities  of  the  mind,  its 
proper  gratification  is  one  of  the  essential  requisites 
of  human  happiness.  Conforming,  therefore,  to  the 
prevailing  mode  of  dress,  so  far  as  that  mode  agrees 
with  our  independent  tastes  and  desires,  and  exer- 
cising in  a  proper  manner  our  own  reason  and  judg- 
ment, is  neither  a  folly  nor  a  vice ;  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, it  is  a  virtue.  But  yielding  an  unconditional 
obedience  to  all  the  demands  of  the  prevailing  fashion, 
and  scrupulously  adopting  all  its  idle  frivolities  and 
useless  absurdities,  merely  because  they  are  fashion- 
able, is  a  social  slavery  of  the  most  despicable  nature, 
and  a  vice  which  virtually  deprives  us  of  the  bless- 
ings of  our  natural  attributes,  and  falsifies  our  pro- 
fessions as  a  Christian  people. 

Not  only  this,  but  the  actual  evils  which  neces- 
sarily result  from  such  a  course,  have  most  ruinous 
effects  upon  the  condition  of  society.  It  diverts  the 
attention  of  the  mind  from  the  proper  discharge  of 
those  serious  and  important  duties  of  life,  upon  which 
all  human  enjoyments  necessarily  depend,  and  directs 
its  attention  to  the  practice  of  those  superficial,  ex- 
ternal appearances  which  afford  no  gratification  to 
any  quality  of  human  nature  except  its  perverted 
propensities,  and  conceals  beneath  its  glittering  sur- 


224  MODERN  FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

face  no  solid  foundation  upon  which  man  can  securely 
rest  his  happiness  either  for  time  or  eternity.  It  is 
the  inherent  quality  of  all  the  sentiments  and  pro- 
pensities of  the  human  mind,  that  their  proper  exer- 
cise and  development  necessarily  conduces  to  h.uman 
happiness,  and  their  improper  gratification  and  per- 
version unavoidably  produces  misery  and  suffering. 
Now,  as  fashion  is  the  effect  of  natural  propensities 
of  the  mind,  from  the  above  principle  it  follows,  con- 
clusively, that  their  proper  gratification  will  produce 
innocent  pleasure  and  happiness ;  but  that  their  ex- 
cessive gratification  or  perversion  is  a  sin  against 
God  in  the  light  of  nature,  and  inevitably  leads  to 
consequences  destructive  to  human  happiness. 

It  will  be  the  object  of  this  essay  to  demonstrate 
that  this  great  law  of  human  nature  holds  true,  in 
regard  to  the  imitative  propensities  of  man,  by  point- 
ing out  some  of  the  follies  and  evils  which  result 
from  their  perversion.  But  by  the  term  fashion,  we 
do  not  mean  the  present  prevailing  mode  of  dress 
only,  but  we  claim  the  privilege  of  investigating  it  in 
relation  to  all  those  affairs  of  life  in  which  a  fixed 
conventional  custom  assumes  the  arbitrary  jurisdic- 
tion of  determining  the  mode  of  human  conduct.  If 
man  is  to  act  and  think  according  to  certain  rules 
which  are  prescribed  to  him  by  a  capricious  tyrant, 
wherefore  the  use  of  those  rational  attributes  with 
\vhich  his  Creator  has  endowed  him,  and  which  enable 
him  to  think  independently  of  all  other  influences, 
and  which  are  the  only  proper  guides  to  direct  his 
action  ?  It  is  unquestionably  true,  that  just  in  the 
proportion  that  persons  become  fashionable,  accord- 
ing to  the  modern  acceptation  of  the  term,  just  in 
that  proportion  they  cease  to  be  independent  rational 
beings,  and  become  the  slaves  of  mere  conventionality. 

These  points,  startling  as  they  may  appear  to  the 


FOLLIES   OF   FASHION.  225 

smiling  votary  of  fashion,  we  shall  attempt  to  de- 
monstrate in  the  progress  of  the  investigation.  But 
in  doing  so,  it  is  not  the  intention  to  descend  to  the 
minute  detail  of  all  those  gay  frivolities  and  daz- 
zling forms  which  flitter  round  the  circles  of  fashion, 
shining  for  the  moment  with  a  false  and  glittering 
light,  and  receiving  the  admiration  of  all  the  innu- 
merable hosts  of  fashion-worshipers,  and  in  a  very 
short  time  all  their  beauty  vanishes  before  the  frown 
of  the  fickle  tyrant,  and  all  his  dutiful  subjects,  ever 
faithful  to  their  ruler,  discard,  with  the  utmost  dis- 
gust, that  which  they  so  lately  regarded  with  un- 
bounded admiration,  and  for  the  life  of  them  can  not 
see  how  any  person  of  taste  and  accomplishment 
could  admire  any  thing  so  old  fashioned.  Their 
existence  is  too  ephemeral  to  admit  of  investigation, 
for,  by  the  time  their  folly  should  be  fairly  exposed, 
they  would  themselves  have  passed  away,  and  their 
places  supplied  by  others  of  the  same  species,  but 
of  entirely  different  shapes,  so  that  it  would  be  ne- 
cessary to  commence  anew,  and  thus  they  would  con- 
tinually evade  our  grasp.  But  we  intend  to  regard 
these  short-lived  follies  as  being,  in  fact,  too  contempt- 
ible to  merit  serious  investigation,  and  turn  our  at- 
tention directly  to  the  consideration  of  the  perver- 
sion of  the  faculties  of  the  human  mind  from  which 
they  result,  being  confident  that  if  the  cause  be  re- 
moved the  effect  will  be  prevented.  • 
Let  us,  in  the  first  place,  understand  more  distinctly 
the  difference  between  the  proper  gratification  and 
the  perversion  of  the  natural  qualities  of  the  mind, 
which  constitute  man  an  imitative  being,  and  give 
him  a  natural  inclination  to  conform  to  established 
modes  and  customs.  As  man  is  unquestionably  en- 
dowed with  these  natural  qualities,  it  is  obviously  his 
duty  to  afford  them  proper  gratification,  as  much  so 


226  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

as  it  his  duty  to  gratify  any  other  faculty  of  the 
mind;  but  as  these  faculties  are  endowed  with  the  in- 
herent quality  of  all  human  faculties,  that  is,  liability 
to  perversion,  the  great  question  to  determine  is, 
•where  the  proper  gratification  ends  and  where  the 
perversion  begins.  Now,  as  man  is  naturally  an 
imitative  being,  it  is  evident  that  it  would  not  afford 
gratification  to  these  faculties  to  act  in  a  manner 
entirely  contrary  to  the  established  modes  and  cus- 
toms by  which  he  is  surrounded,  and,  therefore,  their 
only  legitimate  source  of  gratification  is  in  conform- 
ing to  those  modes  and  customs  so  far  as  this  confor- 
mity can  be  rendered  compatible  with  the  proper 
exercise  and  gratification  of  all  the  other  faculties 
of  the  mind,  but  beyond  this  he  must  not  go,  for  the 
undue  gratification  of  any  faculty  is  its  perversion, 
and  destroys  the  even  balance  of  the  mind.  Hence 
it  is  evident  that  all  those  persons  who  devote  so 
large  a  portion  of  their  time  and  attention  to  the 
fashions  of  the  day,  and  are  so  scrupulously  exact  in 
the  observance  of  all  their  vanities  and  frivolities, 
are  not  only  wronging  themselves  by  perverting  their 
natural  endowments,  but  they  are  most  wickedly 
sinning  against  God.  It  is  exceedingly  to  be  re- 
gretted that  so  very  large  a  portion  of  our  professing 
Christians  must  unavoidably  be  placed  in  this  list. 

When  we  say  that  man  is  an  imitative  being,  we  do 
tiot  mean  that  he  is  an  imitative  being  only,  but  that 
this  is  only  one  of  the  natural  qualities  of  the  mind, 
and  not  the  only  one,  and  that  all  these  different  qua- 
lities demand  independent  gratification,  and  that  this 
special  faculty  only  demands  harmonious  gratifica- 
tion in  common  with  all  the  rest.  Indeed,  were  man 
entirely  an  imitative  creature,  he  would  not  be  a  ra- 
tional being.  But  there  is  a  certain  quality  in  human 
nature  which  derives  gratification  from  acting  like 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  227 

those  by  whom  we  are  surrounded,  yet  we  are  en- 
dowed with  other  qualities,  which  when  properly  de- 
veloped, are  very  painfully  outraged  when  we  do  that 
which  we  know  to  be  wrong,  and  this  prevents  the 
imitative  propensities  of  human  nature  from  leading 
us  into  irretrievable  misery. 

These  imitative  propensities  are  little  more  than 
unreflecting  instincts,  while  those  qualities  which 
urge  us  to  higher,  nobler,  and  more  independent  con- 
duct, are  those  faculties  which  really  constitute  man 
a  moral  and  a  rational  being.  But  the  moral  and  in- 
tellectual faculties  of  the  mind,  when  all  its  faculties 
are  developed  in  accordance  with  the  requirements 
of  its  Creator,  maintain  a  natural  supremacy  over 
all  its  other  faculties,  and  therefore  its  lower  propen- 
sities should  be  gratified  under  the  guidance  of  the 
moral  and  intellectual  sentiments.  For  as  the  moral 
and  intellectual  faculties  of  the  mind  constitute  man 
a  moral  and  a  rational  being,  if  he  is  not  controlled 
in  his  conduct  by  these  faculties,  he  is  neither  a  moral 
nor  a  rational  being.  Hence,  in  the  gratification  of  the 
propensities  of  imitation,  we  must  be  strictly  guided 
by  the  dictates  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  faculties. 
Now,  observe  an  instance  of  the  nice  balance  of  all  the 
faculties  of  the  mind,  and  how  perfectly  they  are  ad- 
justed by  the  hand  of  God,  for  the  accomplishment  of 
good,  when  they  are  developed  in  accordance  with  the 
requirements  of  their  own  nature.  The  propensities 
for  imitation  urge  us  to  act  as  others  act,  but  acting 
under  the  guidance  of  the  natural  supremacy  of  the 
moral  and  intellectual  faculties,  these  urge  us  to  imi- 
tate that  only  which  is  good  in  others,  arid  avoid  that 
which  they  teach  us  is  wrong,  and  their  highest  ob- 
ject is,  to  urge  us  to  the  accomplishment  of  good, 
independent  of  all  imitation. 

If  the  above  principles  be  correct,  we  have  a  faith- 


228  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

ful  and  reliable  test  to  guide  us  in  the  proper  grati- 
fication of  these  propensities.  It  is  the  test  of 
reason.  Let  them  be  gratified  under  the  guidance 
and  control  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  faculties, 
and  then  we  will  follow  the  customs  by  which  we 
are  surrounded,  so  far  as  these  faculties  teach  us 
they  are  right,  but  when  they  teach  us  that  they 
are  manifestly  wrong,  as  many  of  the  prevailing  cus- 
toms are,  then  we  will  act  as  independent,  rational 
beings,  and  follow  them  no  further. 

Fashion  is  professedly  and  exclusively  imitative ; 
and  it  therefore  excludes  all  exercise  of  the  moral 
and  intellectual  faculties,  and,  in  so  far,  destroys  the 
rationality  of  man.  Nor  is  this  all.  By  becoming 
thus  exclusively  imitative  we  adopt  all  the  wrongs 
and  evils  of  fashion,  for  to  become  fashionable  is 
to  blindly  follow  the  prevailing  modes  and  customs, 
and  thus  we  yield  our  independent  rationality  and 
become  the  willing  slaves  of  the  most  inexorable  and 
capricious  of  all  tyrants.  We  may  adopt  any  fash- 
ion which  the  gratification  of  our  imitative  propen- 
sities may  require,  and  which  the  moral  and  intel- 
lectual faculties,  as  the  supreme  directors  of  all  our 
conduct,  decide  to  be  right  and  proper,  but  to  adopt 
any  fashion,  merely  because  it  is  the  fashion,  without 
the  exercise  of  these  higher  faculties,  reverses  the 
scheme  of  human  nature,  and  is,  therefore,  wrong 
in  principle,  no  difference  how  innocent  the  fashion 
may  be  within  itself.  Therefore,  following  the  pre- 
vailing modes  and  customs,  so  far  as  they  receive 
the  sanction  of  our  moral  and  intellectual  attributes, 
is  the  proper  gratification  of  the  imitative  qualities 
of  the  human  mind;  but  following  the  fashion,  merely 
because  it  is  the  fashion,  is  the  perversion  of  these 
qualities,  and  tends  to  destroy  the  rationality  of 
man,  and  is,  therefore,  contrary  to  the  will  of  God. 


FOLLIES   OF  FASHION.  229 

And  when  the  exercise  of  the  higher  attributes  of 
our  nature  teaches  us  that  a  fashion  is  frivolous  and 
wrong,  they  will  also  provide  us  with  a  substitute 
when  it  is*  essential  to  our  welfare,  which  it  is  our 
bounden  duty,  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man,  to  adopt, 
and  brave  the  jeers  of  public  delusion  and  error, 
and  renounce  our  allegiance  to  this  fickle  and  arbi- 
trary despot,  and  take  our  positions  boldly  and 
bravely  as  independent,  rational  beings. 

Fashion  sways  a  despotic  scepter  over  the  most 
extensive  dominions,  and  numbers  among  its  faithful 
subjects  the  greatest  number  of  persons  of  any  ty- 
rant which  Iras  ever  governed  the  affairs  of  man. 
It  is  a  despotism  which  is  almost  coeval  and  co- 
extensive with  the  existence  of  man.  As  far  back 
in  the  hoary  ages  of  antiquity  as  any  historic  ray 
illuminates  the  annals  of  man,  we  may  observe  the 
traces  of  his  arbitrary  government.  Nor  is  his  sway 
confined  to  mere  external  appearances  and  outward 
conduct,  but  he  has  fastened  his  fetters  even  upon 
the  intellectuality  of  man.  It  seems  to  be  a  quality 
of  the  human  mind,  at  least  as  it  has  existed  under 
the  adverse  influences  which  have  been  exerted  upon 
it,  in  all  prior  periods  of  human  history,  that  when 
once  it  has  accepted  an  idea,  it  clings  to  it  with  a 
fondness  and  a  jealousy  which  precludes  the  effort 
of  unbiased  reflection,  and  thus  effectually  prevents 
it  from  employing  those  means  with  which  its  Crea- 
tor has  provided  it,  to  enable  it  to  protect  itself 
against  the  insidious  approaches  of  error.  Hence, 
when  error  has  once  taken  up  its  position  in  the 
mind,  it  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  of  all  tasks  to 
rout  it  from  its  secure  lodgement. 

Man  seems  to  be  attached  to  his  doctrines  and 
opinions,  not  because  he  is,  in  his  own  understand- 


230  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

ing,  thoroughly  convinced  of  their  truth,  but  because 
they  have  received  the  sanction  of  venerable  ages, 
and  are  those  which  have  been  entertained  by  his 
worthy  progenitors.  They  are  treated  too  much  as 
though  they  were  hereditary  property,  which  is  trans- 
mitted from  progenitor  to  descendant  from  genera- 
tion to  generation ;  and  each  succeeding  generation 
receiving  the  doctrines  and  principles  of  its  prede- 
cessor, as  it  were  upon  trust,  and  accepting  them 
as  a  matter  of  course,  and  not  daring  to  submit  them 
to  the  test  of  reasonable  investigation.  It  is  true, 
that  man  is  continually  progressing  in  the  investiga- 
tion of  truth,  and  discarding  old  and  erroneous  doc- 
trines, and  accepting  those  which  are  true,  but  this 
is  because  all  men  are  not  bound  by  the  fetters  of 
custom,  and,  disdaining  to  be  mere  imitative  crea- 
tures, make  a  noble  effort  at  true  rationality,  and 
seek  to  know  what  is  true,  instead  of  what  men  be- 
lieve to  be  true,  and  thus  go  boldly  forth  to  battle 
in  the  cause  of  truth,  amid  the  jeers  and  clamors 
of  a  fashion-serving  world.  And  when  one  of  these 
bold  warriors  advances  the  standard  of  truth,  and 
strikes  terror  into  the  legions  of  venerable  error, 
the  whole  world  is  in  arms  to  expel  this  new  invader 
into  the  regions  where  error  has  always  maintained 
undisputed  sway. 

Truth  is  eternal,  and  the  truth  which  was  pro- 
claimed by  the  antediluvians,  and  that  which  is 
elicited  to-day,  should  alike  receive  the  veneration 
and  guide  the  conduct  of  man ;  but  the  error  of  all 
ages  is  to  be  alike  condemned,  and  the  error  which 
Abraham  and  Moses  believed,  for  they  were  not 
entirely  free  from  error,  is  not  entitled  to  any  more 
respect  than  that  which  misleads  us  of  to-day ;  nor 
should  the  human  doctrines  which  profess  to  be 
founded  in  truth,  be  exempted  from  investigation, 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  231 

because  our  fathers  and  great-grandfathers  believed 
them  to  be  true.  Truth  loves  investigation,  error 
alone  fears  it,  and  therefore  those  doctrines  and 
principles  which  take  shelter  behind  their  venera- 
bleness  to  screen  them  from  the  searching  eye  of 
reason  and  investigation,  should  only  thereby  fix 
upon  themselves  the  suspicion  of  error.  Because 
custom  and  common  belief,  without  reflection  or  in- 
vestigation, fixes  and  determines  the  doctrines  and 
principles  of  so  large  a  portion  of  mankind,  is  the 
very  reason  why  so  much  error  has  always  been 
mingled  in  the  cardinal  doctrines  and  principles  of 
human  knowledge. 

Most  persons  receive  their  ideas  of  truth  from 
what  they  are  taught  by  others,  and  believe  they 
are  true  because  they  are  told  so,  and  not  because 
their  own  reason  has  convinced  them  of  it,  and  thus 
they  all  follow  in  the  same  prescribed  course,  be- 
lieving such  doctrines  and  principles  as  are  sanc- 
tioned by  custom ;  and  thus  error  is  transmitted 
from  generation  to  generation,  safely  protected  from 
attacks  of  reason  and  investigation.  Why  not  re- 
lieve ourselves  of  the  shackles  of  custom,  and, 
instead  of  believing  doctrines  to  be  true,  merely 
because  they  are  the  prevailing  opinions  of  the 
times,  believe  the  truth  of  such  only  as  can  stand 
the  test  of  calm  and  serious  reason  and  faithful  in- 
vestigation. But  instead  of  this  we  must  think  fash- 
ionably or  not  at  all ;  for  if  we  do  not  acquiesce  in  the 
principles  and  doctrines  of  popular  belief  we  are  re- 
garded as  a  heretic,  or  an  infidel,  or  some  other  danger- 
ous kind  of  person,  and  we  must  withstand  the  clamors 
and  persecutions  of  all  the  hosts  of  fashion-servers. 
Thus,  thought  itself,  so  far  as  the  votaries  of  fashion 
may  be  said  to  think,  is  confined  within  the  pre- 
scribed channels  of  custom.  We  have  only  to  look 


232          MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

into  the  annals  of  the  past  to  observe  that  thought  has, 
in  all  ages,  been  subject  to  the  despotism  of  custom. 
The  fondness  and  tenacity  with  which  men  have 
clung  to  their  cherished  follies  and  errors,  and  the 
implicit  faith  and  confident  reliance  which  they  have 
placed  in  the  truth  of  the  grossest  absurdities  and 
strangest  aberrations  which  could  be  fabricated  by 
misguided  men,  proves  conclusively  that  this  despot 
has  exercised  absolute  authority  over  the  dominions 
of  the  mind. 

When  we  calmly  reflect  upon  many  of  the  absurd 
doctrines  which  large  portions  of  mankind  have,  in 
different  ages  of  the  world,  confidently  believed  to 
be  true,  we  are  astonished  that  the  human  mind 
could  be  so  deluded  and  so  misguided  as  to  yield 
them  its  assent.  It  would  seem  that  a  single  orig- 
inal and  unbiased  effort  of  the  mind  would  disclose 
to  its  view  the  glaring  errors  and  absurdities  which 
had  mislead  it  by  assuming  the  guise  of  truth. 
But  alas,  the  eye  of  reason  is  sealed  by  custom,  and 
its  votaries  grope  their  way  in  mental  blindness,  amid 
the  most  naked  errors  and  delusions,  without  being 
able  to  see  them,  and  believe  every  body  else  is 
wrong  who  does  not  believe  like  themselves.  They  do 
not  boldly  and  independently  exercise  those  rational 
powers  with  which  their  Creator  has  endowed  them 
to  enable  them  to  elicit  truth  and  detect  error,  but 
act  as  though  their  minds  were  created  for  nothing 
more  noble  than  to  answer  the  purpose  of  a  common 
storehouse,  in  which  to  deposit  all  the  error  and 
mental  rubbish  which  can  be  manufactured  by  per- 
verted rationality.  Thus  thought  is  reduced  to  a 
state  of  vassalage,  and  the  mind,  being  deprived 
of  its  defenses  against  error,  and  being  thus  defense- 
less, and  constantly  subjected  to  the  approaches  of 
error,  it  easily  enters  and  takes  possession  of  tho 


FOLLIES  OP  FASHION.  233 

mind.  Hence  it  is  that  man  has  in  all  ages  sin- 
cerely and  confidently  believed  doctrines  and  opin- 
ions the  most  grossly  absurd  and  unreasonable. 
He  has  received  them  at  the  dictation  of  custom, 
and  neglected  to  avail  himself  of  the  only  means 
by  which  he  can  protect  himself  against  delusion 
and  imposition,  that  is,  by  appealing  to  his  own 
reason,  judgment,  and  intelligence,  to  decide  the 
important  question  of  their  truth.  And  as  this  is 
the  only  means  by  which  he  can  protect  himself 
against  error,  he  must  continue  to  be  the  dupe  and 
.  victim  of  error,  as  long  as  he  neglects  to  avail  him- 
self of  the  aid  of  his  own  independent  rationality. 

It  can  not  be  a  subject  of  surprise,  then,  that  so 
much  gross  error  and  delusion  have  been  mingled 
•with  the  doctrines  and  opinions  which  have  been 
entertained  by  men.  How  can  it  be  expected  that 
doctrines  and  opinions  should  be  reasonable  when 
reason  is  not  employed  in  their  formation?  How 
can  it  be  expected  that  they  should  be  true,  when 
the  only  guide  to  truth  is  entirely  disregarded?  The 
history  of  past  creeds  and  opinions  proves  that  man 
may  be  made  to  believe  just  any  thing  that  he  is 
required  to  believe,  for  it  is  impossible  for  the  im- 
agination to  conceive  a  greater  variety  of  gross  and 
unreasonable  superstitions  and  absurdities  than  have 
actually  been  seriously  and  candidly  believed  to  be 
true  by  large  portions  of  mankind  in  diiferent  ages 
of  the  world.  If  the  formation  of  doctrines  and 
opinions  is  to  consist  of  a  kind  of  mechanical  opera- 
tion, as  it  does  when  people  receive  them  already 
manufactured  by  custom,  it  matters  little  to  them 
what  they  believe,  and  they  can  believe  one  thing 
just  as  well  as  an  other.  They  believe  whatever  is 
offered  them  for  belief  by  the  prevailing  custom.  If 
it  offers  them  paganism,  they  believe  paganism ;  if  it 
20 


234  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

offers  them  Christianity,  they  believe  Christianity; 
and,  as  already  said,  no  doctrine  has  ever  yet  been 
conceived  so  absurd  that  it  could  not  find  plenty  of 
confident  believers,  and  it  has  not  unfrequently  hap- 
pened that  the  more  absurd  and  unreasonable  a  doc- 
trine was,  the  more  numerous  and  devoted  have  been 
its  believers. 

This  results  from  the  fact  that  man  has  been  in 
the  habit  of  receiving  his  doctrines  and  principles 
already  manufactured  by  custom,  and  whatever  hap- 
pens to  be  the  prevailing  belief,  he  adopts  as  his 
own  without  submitting  it  to  the  test  of  his  own  indi- 
vidual rationality.  Hence,  out  of  the  materials  of 
the  human  mind,  which  in  all  ages  and  in  all  nations 
have  consisted  of  the  same  fundamental  faculties, 
have  been  manufactured  all  the  different  kinds  of 
humanity  which  have  existed  in  the  world.  The 
heathen  and  the  Christian  are  made  out  of  precisely 
the  same  kind  of  material.  There  is  no  radical  and 
fundamental  difference  in  the  natural  qualities  of  a 
Yankee  and  of  a  Hottentot.  All  mankind  have  the 
same  inborn  natural  faculties,  but  they  exist  in  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  strength,  and  in  different  states  of 
development.  Just  reverse  all  the  circumstances, 
and,  in  the  course  of  a  very  few  generations,  the 
Christian  people  would  become  devoted  heathens,  and 
the  Hottentot  would  become  a  successful  dealer  in 
wooden  nutmegs.  Hence  it  is  the  customs  of  a 
people  which  shape  their  destiny,  and  Avhatever  those 
customs  are,  either  in  belief  or  in  conduct,  they  are 
strictly  adopted,  and  followed  with  all  their  errors 
and  absurdities,  by  the  unreflecting  masses  of  the 
people. 

To  this  general  principle  of  human  nature  there 
can  be  found  no  exception  in  the  history  of  man. 
The  great  changes  which  take  place  in  the  prevailing 


FOLLIES    OF  FASHION.  235 

customs  of  belief  are  effected  by  slow  degrees  and 
by  the  operation  of  powerful  causes.  Those  who 
stand  forth  and  boldly  fight  the  errors  and  super- 
stitions of  popular  belief,  are  generally  crushed  by 
the  almost  irresistible  force  of  custom.  The  first  ad- 
vocates of  an  important  truth  or  reformation  almost 
invariably  meet  with  nothing  but  denunciation  and 
persecution,  and  their  teachings  fall  without  effect 
among  the  unthinking  multitudes.  But  the  new 
principles  are  at  first  adopted  by  a  few  of  those  per- 
sons who  are  independent  of  the  ruling  tyrant,  and 
slowly  gain  strength  until  they  gradually  supplant 
the  old  customs,  and  themselves  assume  the  scepter 
of  despotism,  and  rule  the  popular  mind  with  an 
absolute  sway.  The  history  of  man  represents  him 
in  all  ages  as  clinging  to  his  established  errors  and 
superstitions  with  the  most  perverse  attachment,  and 
engaged  in  deadly  opposition  to  those  who  are  main- 
taining the  cause  of  truth  in  its  struggle  with  error. 
Galileo  was  subjected  to  protracted  abuse  and  per- 
secution because  he  maintained  the  theory  of  the 
earth's  revolution.  It  was  contrary  to  the  doctrines 
of  customary  belief.  The  fanatics  declared  that  it  im- 
peached the  truth  of  the  Bible,  and  he  was  arraigned 
before  a  Christian  tribunal,  and  only  escaped  the  hor- 
rors of  the  Inquisition  by  retracting  what  they  de- 
cided to  be  an  abominable  heresy.  But  although 
they  had  forced  a  retraction  from  him,  yet  he  was  so 
inspired  with  the  truth  of  his  theory,  that  he  ex- 
claimed, even  in  the  presence  of  his  judges,  "  yet  it 
moves."  Although  in  the  present  age  men  are  free 
from  the  terrors  of  torture  and  persecution,  yet  they 
are  not  free  from  the  fetters  of  mental  bondage. 
They  still  glide  along  in  the  sweeping  current  of 
popular  belief,  and  although  public  opinion  may  con- 
tain much  truth,  yet,  at  the  same  time,  it  contains 


236  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

much  error,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  every  rational  being 
to  exercise,  independently  of  customary  belief,  those 
faculties  of  reason  with  which  his  Creator  has  en- 
dowed him,  to  enable  him  to  arrive  at  truth,  and  to 
be  guided  by  their  light  and  aid  amid  the  doubt  and 
darkness  of  error. 

Nor  is  the  despotism  which  custom  exercises  over 
thought  more  absolute  or  extensive  than  its  sway 
over  the  conduct  of  men.  Man,  viewed  in  this  re- 
spect, presents  the  appearance  of  a  vast  machine, 
of  which  fashion  is  the  moving  power.  He  moves 
as  it  moves  him.  It  prescribes  the  precise  course 
which  he  is  to  follow,  and  he  follows  it  with  scrupu- 
lous exactness.  If  the  dictates  of  his  own  rational- 
ity should  prompt  him  to  act  in  a  manner  differing 
from  the  established  custom,  he  shudders  at  the 
thought  of  the  staring  gaze,  and  idle  gossip,  and 
slander  of  the  hosts  of  fashion-servers,  and  thus 
he  is  lashed  back  into  his  servitude.  The  votary 
of  fashion  never  questions  its  right  to  control  him 
in  all  his  conduct,  nor  thinks  of  asserting  his  own 
independence.  Upon  this  subject  he  claims  no  right 
to  think,  but  only  aims  to  ascertain  what  it  is  that 
fashion  requires;  this  known,  his  duty  is  clear,  he 
yields  a  willing  and  scrupulous  obedience.  What 
difference  does  it  make  whether  it  be  right  or  wrong, 
reasonable  or  unreasonable  ?  What,  if  it  is  contrary 
to  the  laws  of  health  or  morality  ?  What,  if  it  is 
contrary  to  the  will  of  God  as  revealed  in  his  Word 
and  his  work  ?  All  these  matters  are  of  trifling 
consequence  when  they  come  in  opposition  to  the 
omnipotence  of  fashion. 

The  votaries  of  fashion  sacrifice  health,  happiness, 
principle,  religion,  and  even  life  itself,  all,  in  order 
to  enable  them  to  pay  homage  and  fealty  to  their 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION".  237 

sovereign  despot.  Even  the  professors  of  religion 
caix,  with  apparent  pride,  violate  the  precepts  of 
their  religion  in  this  respect,  even  while  engaged 
in  th<3  very  act  of  worship ;  thus  professing  religion, 
but  practicing  fashion.  It  certainly  indicates  a 
strange  perversity  of  human  nature  that  man-  should 
be  more  scrupulous  in  the  observance  of  these  vain 
and  frivolous  appearances  than  he  is  in  the  perform- 
ance of  those  essential  duties  upon  which  his  hap- 
piness depends,  both  as  a  mortal  and  as  an  immor- 
tal being.  Were  man  as  faithful  in  the  practice 
of  these  essential  duties,  as  he  is  in  the  practice 
of  the  vanities  and  follies  of  fashion,  how  much 
more  enjoyment  and  happiness  there  would  be  in 
the  world,  and  how  much  less  suffering  and  misery. 
Did  man  strive  as  earnestly  to  conform  his  conduct 
to  the  requirements  of  truth  and  virtue  as  he  does 
to  conform  it  to  the  requirements  and  notions  of  the 
prevailing  customs,  how  much  purer  would  the  light 
of  morality  and  religion  shine  forth.  Were  he  as 
eager  to  clothe  his  mind  with  the  principles  which 
adorn  and  elevate  humanity  as  he  is  to  clothe  his 
body  with  the  gaudy  trappings  of  fashion,  how  many 
human  beings  would  smile  in  happiness  and  joy  who 
now  weep  in  sorrow  and  despair.  Were  he  as  de- 
sirous to  walk  in  the  paths  of  virtue  and  righteous- 
ness as  he  now  is  to  follow  the  empty  fashions  of 
the  day,  how  many  more  men  and  women  would  we 
have,  and  how  many  less  human  butterflies. 

The  duties  which  he  thus  neglects  are  those  upon 
which  depend  all  the  real  pleasures  of  life,  while  the 
gay,  gaudy,  fleeting  vanities  and  arts  of  fashion, 
which  enlist  his  most  earnest  efforts,  only  blunt  the 
finest  feelings  of  our  nature,  and  infuse  a  cold  arti- 
ficiality into  all  the  transactions  of  life.  What  can 
be  more  chilling  than  the  pretended  acts  of  kindness 


238  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

and  friendship  which  are  prompted  by  fashion.  They 
are  merely  the  images  of  friendship,  dressed  in  the 
artificial  garb  of  deceitfulness.  They  fall  like  a 
chilling  frost  upon  the  warm  and  affectionate  heart, 
blighting  all  its  most  lovely  beauties.  True  affec- 
tion languishes  and  dies  in  the  fetters  of  fashion. 
Affection  is  the  purest  gem  of  the  human  soul. 
Fashion  is  the  most  giddy  folly  of  human  frailty. 
Affection  is  a  virtue  which  might  adorn  an  angel. 
Fashion  is  a  vice  which  should  shame  even  perverted 
humanity.  Affection  is  the  offspring  of  sincerity 
and  truth.  Fashion  is  the  child  of  hypocrisy  and 
error.  All  that  affection  loves,  fashion  hates.  How, 
then,  are  they  to  dwell  together  in  harmony  ?  Ah, 
when  fashion  takes  possession,  the  spirit  of  true 
affection  takes  its  flight,  and  leaves  the  mind  the 
poisoned  fountain  of  smiling  hypocrisy  and  formal 
deceitfulness.  Hence  the  selfishness,  deceitfulness, 
and  hard-heartedness  which  pervades  fashionable 
society. 

Man  may  control  his  tongue,  or  his  countenance, 
but  over  the  emotions  and  impulses  of  his  mind  he 
has  no  control.  He  may  corrupt  and  pervert  his 
mind,  and  as  it  is  ennobled  or  debased  its  emotions 
and  impulses  are  pure  or  impure.  But  while  he 
has  complete  control  over  the  condition  of  his  mind, 
the  emotions  and  impulses  which  result  from  that 
condition  are  natural  consequences  which,  of  course, 
he  can  not  control.  But  the  tongue  and  counte- 
nance are  his  dutiful  servants.  The  tongue  may 
chatter  flippant  nonsense,  or  utter  base  falsehood, 
and  the  countenance  may  be  beaming  with  smiles  or 
overcast  with  frowns,  at  his  pleasure.  Hence,  they 
are  no  fair  exponents  of  the  internal  workings  of 
the  mind.  The  impulses  of  the  mind  are  directed 
by  the  hand  of  its  Creator;  and,  therefore,  they 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  239 

result  in  natural  order;  but  the  giddy  .tongue  and 
deceitful  countenance  may  be  directed  by  fashion; 
and,  therefore,  they  may  be  false  and  capricious. 
The  votaries  of  fashion  bow  and  smile  by  rule. 
They  smile  and  flatter  while  they  hate  and  despise. 
The  smile  which  is  beaming  upon  the  countenance 
is  not  the  sunshine  of  the  soul.  The  meaningless 
compliments  which  are  coined  by  the  false  tongue  are 
not  the  sentiments  of  the  mind.  While  virtue  and 
integrity  imperatively  demand  that  the  expressions 
of  the  tongue  and  countenance  shall  be  in  harmony 
with  the  sentiments  of  the  mind,  the  smiles  and  flat- 
tery of  the  votary  of  fashion  are  too  often,  and  not 
without  reason,  only  the  objects  of  distrust  and  sus- 
picion. Thus  man  becomes  false  to  himself  and  to 
his  fellow-man,  and  becomes  a  mere  feather,  buffeted 
about  by  the  shifting  breezes  of  custom. 

It  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  excessive  fashion- 
ableness  defeats  the  proper  development  of  the  mind. 
Not  only  does  it  injuriously  hamper  the  moral  and 
intellectual  faculties,  but  the  baseness  and  deception 
which  are  the  inseparable  companions  of  fashion- 
following,  corrupt  and  debase  these  faculties,  and 
thus  render  them  subservient  to  its  own  base  pur- 
poses. Thus  are  the  only  faculties  which  can  con- 
stitute man  an  independent  rational  being,  wrought 
into  the  fetters  which  enslave  him.  Yet,  those  who 
make  the  most  ostentatious  professions  of  morality 
are  almost  invariably  those  who  are  the  most  obse- 
quious observers  of  fashion.  Our  most  fashionable 
people  are  the  members  of  our  churches.  They  are 
more  particular  in  the  observance  of  the  rules  of 
fashion,  than  they  are  in  fulfilling  the  requirements 
of  true  morality.  They  are  more  solicitous  to  deco- 
rate their  bodies  with  fashionable  garments  than  they 
are  to  adorn  their  minds  with  true  moral  principles. 


240  MODERN    FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

True  morality  consists  in  discharging  the  essential 
duties  of  life,  in  the  manner  taught  by  a  properly 
developed  and  untrammeled  moral  and  intellectual 
nature ;  fashionable  morality  consists  in  imitating 
the  prevailing  morality  by  going  through  the  motion, 
while  the  real  acts  are  of  very  questionable  morality. 
All  excessive  fashionableness  is  in  violation  of  the 
principles  of  true  morality,  because  it  subverts  the 
natural  supremacy  of  .the  moral  and  intellectual  sen- 
timents, and  debases  man  into  an  aping  creature, 
blindly  and  unreasonably  following  the  prescriptions 
of  custom,  instead  of  acting  as  an  independent  rational 
being,  guided  by  the  dictates  of  his  moral  and  intel- 
lectual nature.  These  principles  being  correct,  and 
if  man  is  really  a  moral  being,  they  are  irrefutable, 
then  every  person  becomes  immoral  by  becoming 
fashionable.  Yet  the  absurd  and  frivolous  fashion- 
ableness which  is  absorbing  so  large  a  portion  of  the 
attention  of  the  present  excessively  fashionable  age, 
is  lovingly  united  in  the  bonds  of  the  most  intimate 
friendship  and  association  with  the  purest  and  most 
approved  morality  of  the  day. 

Morality  has  become  a  subservient  principle,  and 
like  our  garments,  there  is  very  little  demand  for  any 
kind  except  such  as  is  gotten  up  according  to  the 
latest  fashion.  The  principles  which  constitute  the 
prevailing  morality,  are  those  only  which  have  re- 
ceived the  approval  of  fashion,  and  as  it  has  been 
shown  that  the  excessive  fashionableness  of  the  age 
is  founded  in  vice  and  error,  it  is  not  unreasonable 
to  conclude  that  these  principles  of  morality  are  not 
entirely  devoid  of  its  failings.  The  votaries  of 
fashion  have  no  test,  except  fashion,  to  decide  the 
question  of  right  and  wrong.  They  unhesitatingly 
commit  all  those  acts  which  fashion  endorses,  and 
scrupulously  avoid  all  those  which  are  not  at  present 


FOLLIES  OP  FASHION.  241 

in  her  favor.  It  causes  them  deeper  mortification 
to  violate  some  of  the  frivolous  follies  of  fashion, 
than  to  neglect  the  performance  of  the  most  important 
duties  of  life.  Persons  may  openly  violate  the  most 
important  conditions  of  their  nature,  and  even  the 
essential  doctrines  and  principles  of  religion,  and  it 
will  not  startle  a  single  tongue  of  fashion;  but  let 
them  deviate  from  what  fashion  at  the  moment  re- 
quires, and  soon  a  thousand  gibbering  tongues  are 
engaged  in  the  fashionable  enjoyment  of  gossiping. 
Are,  then,  the  immutable  laws  and  principles  which 
were  instituted  by  the  Author  of  nature  so  trifling, 
and  the  fleeting  frivolous  vanities  of  fashion  so  im- 
portant to  man  ?  Are  we  to  rely  upon  such  a  guide 
to  direct  us  in  the  moral  journey  of  life  ?  If  we  are 
to  accept  fashion  as  the  standard  which  is  to  estab- 
lish the  principles  of  morality,  those  principles  change 
oftener  than  the  moon.  What  it  decided  to  be  right 
but  a  few  weeks  ago,  it  decides  to  be  wrong  to-day. 
Can  true  morality  be  thus  changeable  ?  Far  from  it, 
indeed.  The  principles  of  true  morality  are  eternal, 
and  the  generation  of  to-day  is  bound  by  the  same 
moral  code  which  bound  the  generation  of  Moses. 
This  morality  is  founded  upon  the  eternal  rock  of 
nature.  And  while  it  is  thus  calm  and  unchangeable 
as  the  existence  of  God,  "  the  same  yesterday,  to-day 
and  for  ever,"  fluctuating  custom  has  enjoined  more 
different  kinds  of  morality  upon  man  than  he  has 
lived  generations.  He  who  made  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  and  the  fullness  thereof,  has  established  but 
one  system  of  morality  to  govern  his  human  creatures 
in  all  the  ages  of  time  ;  but  capricious  custom  has 
prescribed  the  same  system  of  morality  to  no  two 
generations  of  all  the  ages  of  the  world.  The  one 
is  the  institution  of  Divine  Omnipotence,  the  other  is 
the  creature  of  human  folly.  Human  custom  might 
21 


242          MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

ag  well  try  to  swerve  the  earth  from  its  orbit,  as  to 
vary  the  principles  of  this  eternal  morality,  which, 
as  God  is  unchangeable,  will  remain  the  same  in 

time  and  in  eternity. 

• 

But  how  is  man  to  be  considered  a  rational  being, 
while  right  in  the  face  of  reason,  and  contrary  to  its 
most  obvious  dictates,  he  forsakes  the  pursuit  of  the 
most  substantial  pleasures  and  enjoyments  of  lite, 
and  with  an  earnestness  which,  if  properly  directed, 
would  certainly  secure  his  happiness,  pursues  the 
most  fleeting  and  frivolous  of  all  human  follies  ?  la 
he  not  endowed  with  reason  to  teach  him,  and  has  he 
not  had  experience  to  prove  to  him  the  utter  insuf- 
ficiency of  fashionable  follies  to  answer  any  of  the 
important  purposes  of  life ;  or  to  contribute  any  of 
the  essential  means  of  true  happiness  ?  And  we  may 
be  truly  thankful  to  the  great  Author  of  nature  that 
the  essential  principles  from  which  all  permanent 
human  happiness  is  to  be  derived,  are  founded  upon 
a  more  solid  basis.  Indeed,  were  it  true  that  sub- 
stantial happiness  could  be  derived  from  the  practice 
of  fashionable  follies,  then  it  would  be  true  that 
human  happiness  is  not  to  be  attained  by  fulfilling 
the  requirements  of  the  laws  of  nature,  but  by  their 
violation  that  it  is  not  the  reward  of  the  harmonious 
exercise  and  development  of  all  the  faculties  of  our 
nature,  but  of  their  excesses  and  perversion,  that  it 
does  not  follow  as  a  natural  consequence  of  obedi- 
ence to  the  will  of  God,  but  of  disobedience.  For  it 
has  been  shown  that  excessive  fashionableness  is  a 
perversion  of  our  natural  faculties,  and  thus  a  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  of  our  nature ;  and  hence  if  these 
are  the  means  by  which  true  happiness  can  be  at- 
tained, it  is  the  first  duty  of  man  to  pervert  his  na- 
ture, and  act  in  direct  opposition  to  the  will  and  de- 


FOLLIES  OP  FASHION.  243 

signs  of  his  Creator.  The  word  and  the  works  of 
God  teach  us  that  happiness  is  the  reward  of  virtue ; 
fashion  teaches  us  that  it  can  only  be  enjoyed  in  the 
practice  of  follies  and  vices. 

But  how  is  it  that  man,  being  a  rational  being,  can 
be  misled  and  deluded  by  follies  and  vices  the  errors 
and  evils  of  which  are  exposed  by  his  every-day 
experience?  It  certainly  does  not  require  a  very 
high  state  of  rationality,  together  with  the  testimony 
of  every  act  of  life,  to  teach  us  that  all  our  substan- 
tial pleasures  and  enjoyments  are  derived  from  the 
practice  of  virtue,  and  that  all  the  illusory  pleasures, 
which  are  derived  from  excessive  gratifications  or 
vice,  pass  away  with  the  moment's  indulgence,  and 
desert  us  at  the  very  moment  that  we  are  arraigned 
before  the  tribunal  of  offended  nature,  to  receive  her 
judgment.  And  it  certainly  requires  less  rationality 
to  teach  us  that  the  excessive  fashionableness  which 
has  seized  and  controls  the  mind  of  the  present  age, 
has  a  practical  tendency  to  transform  man  from  a 
rational  to  an  instinctive  and  imitative  being,  and  is 
a  vice  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  term.  Hence  it 
follows  conclusively  that  fashion  being  a  vice,  can  not 
confer  any  substantial  benefits  or  enjoyments  upon 
its  votaries,  but  as,  in  all  other  vices,  those  who  prac- 
tice it  must  inevitably  suffer  the  penalties  which  na- 
ture inflicts  upon  those  who  violate  her  laws. 

But,  because  these  results  do  not  manifest  them- 
selves in  some  of  those  forms  which  society  has  been 
accustomed  to  condemn,  the  monitors  of  the  public 
morality  have  entirely  overlooked  their  evils,  and 
the  practice  of  this  vice  is  at  present  thought  to 
be  not  inconsistent  with  the  practice  of  the  purest 
piety  and  virtue.  One  person  may  ruin  his  health 
by  the  intemperate  use  of  ardent  spirits,  and  the 
whole  community  very  properly  condemns  such  a 


244  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

course  of  conduct,  and  another  may  destroy  his  by 
fashionable  excesses,  and  immediately  he  becomes  an 
object  of  public  sympathy,  and  his  misfortunes  are 
attributed  to  the  inscrutible  dispensations  of  God, 
thus  charging  the  Creator  with  the  sins  of  his  crea- 
tures. If  a  man  destroy  the  energies  of  his  consti- 
tution by  indulgence  in  any  vice,  which  it  is  custom- 
ary to  condemn,  it  is  obvious  to  every  person  that 
he  has  committed  a  great  wrong,  but  if  a  woman  de- 
stroy hers  by  fashionable  dressing  or  fashionable 
eating,  or  by  any  other  fashionable  vice,  she  nor  so- 
ciety does  not  for  a  moment  imagine  that  she  has  in 
the  slightest  degree  transgressed  the  principles  of 
right  or  morality. 

Now,  according  to  the  morality  of  nature,  the  per- 
son who  destroys  his  health,  by  fashionable  excesses 
is  just  as  guilty  as  the  person  who  destroy  his  by 
those  excesses  which  men  are  accustomed  to  con- 
demn. But  society  regards  the  one  as  an  abandoned 
reprobate,  an  outcast  of  humanity  upon  whom  the 
immaculate  fashion-servers  look  with  the  utmost  con- 
tempt and  disdain,  without  the  slightest  suspicion  of 
the  beam  which  is  in  their  own  eye,  while  it  regards 
the  other  as  the  brightest  ornament  of  society,  and  a 
paragon  of  virtue  and  morality.  We  would  not  have 
society  condemn  the  grosser  vices  any  less  than  it 
does,  but  would  have  it  protect  itself  against  the 
evils  of  vice  in  all  its  shapes.  We  would  not  have 
one  vice  bitterly  denounced,  and  another  counte- 
nanced and  encouraged  by  society,  merely  because 
one  is  fashionable  and  the  other  unfashionable.  Any 
system  of  morality  is  essentially  unsound  which  per- 
mits vice  to  take  refuge  behind  the  bulwarks  of  fash- 
ion, and  there  not  only  rest  in  unmolested  security, 
but  actually  receive  the  aid  of  society  in  promoting 
its  evil  results,  and  while  the  unsuspecting  victims 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  245 

are  fondly  caressing  the  pet  vice,  it  strikes  its 
poisoned  fangs  to  the  heart. 

It  is  believed  that  the  truth  is  not  hazarded  by  the 
assertion,  that  there  is  more  suffering,  disease,  and 
death  produced  by  the  practice  of  fashionable  vices 
than  there  is  by  indulgence  in  condemned  vices.  It 
is  true  that  the  latter  produce  more  gross  immoral- 
ity, but  their  empire  is  always  more  confined,  and 
they  have  to  make  their  attacks  upon  the  fortifica- 
tions of  virtue  and  morality,  under  the  vigilant 
watch  and  determined  opposition  of  the  whole  moral 
community,  while  the  fashionable  vices  extend  their 
empire  over  almost  the  entire  human  family,  and 
attack  the  health  and  happiness  of  their  subjects, 
while  they  fancy  they  are  securest  from  danger,  and 
conseqently  unwarned  of  the  approaching  evils. 
While  society  entertains  these  fashionable  vices  with 
the  most  generous  hospitality,  they  secretly  and 
treacherously  rob  their  patrons  of  their  most  sacred 
and  invaluable  treasures. 

It  is  a  fact  so  notorious  that  it  only  requires  to 
be  stated  to  be  admitted,  that  excessive  fashiona- 
bleness  invariably  deteriorates  and  enfeebles  the 
physical  capacities  of  man.  We  have  only  to  look 
upon  the  living  panorama  of  real  life,  as  it  moves 
before  us  every  day,  in  order  to  obtain  the  most 
conclusive  evidence  of  this  fact.  Look  into  the  cir- 
cles of  fashion  and  behold  what  a  scene  of  physical 
degeneracy.  There  we  find  man,  and  especially 
woman,  debilitated ;  feebly  tottering  along  the  jour- 
ney of  life ;  groaning  under  an  undue  amount  of  suf- 
ering  and  disease,  amid  all  the  modish  elegance  and 
gaudy  flippery  of  art  and  vanity;  the  mere  shadow 
of  what  humanity  is  when  it  is  developed  in  accord- 
ance with  the  requirements  of  nature.  Do  we  not 
find  disease  and  physical  debility  more  generally 


246  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

prevalent  among  the  higher  classes  of  society,  where 
the  reign  of  fashion  is  more  supreme  than  among 
the  lower  ?  Let  every  person  be  so  kind  as  to  com- 
pare in  his  own  mind  the  physical  condition  of  those 
who  are  so  highly  favored  as  to  be  able  to  become 
fashionable  in  our  modern  way  of  fashionable  living, 
and  are  so  extremely  fortunate  as  to  have  nothing 
else  to  do  but  to  sacrifice  their  health  and  lives  to  its 
vanities  and  follies ;  compare  these  with  those  who 
are  so  very  unfortunate  as  to  be  deprived  of  these 
high  privileges,  and  are  prevented  by  stern  necessity 
from  indulging  in  these  excesses,  and  are  forced  by 
the  demands  of  nature  to  take  that  virtuous  exer- 
cise which  the  laws  of  their  nature  require.  Do  we 
not  find  the  one  class  more  generally  vigorous  and 
healthy,  and  the  other  more  feeble,  and,  conse- 
quently, more  liable  to  complicated  disease  ?  Yet 
the  lower  classes  are  not,  by  any  means,  devoid  of 
vice ;  on  the  contrary,  they  generally  practice  those 
vices  which  society  most  condemns,  and  which,  of 
course,  have  their  pernicious  effects ;  yet,  as  actual 
experience  and  real  life  prove,  these  unfashionable 
vices  do  not  have  as  disastrous  effects  upon  the  hu- 
man constitution  as  those  which  are  fashionable. 

Why  is  it  that  the  lower  classes,  as  a  general  rule, 
enjoy  more  vigorous  physical  constitutions  than  the 
higher  classes  of  society?  Is  it  because  they  are 
different  species  of  the  human  race?  Is  it  because 
of  any  arbitrary  natural  distinction  ?  Neither.  It 
is  because,  in  the  present  constitution  of  society,  the 
higher  the  class  the  more  fashionable  it  is,  and  it  is 
ordained,  by  the  unalterable  fiat  of  nature,  that  dis- 
ease and  suffering  shall  punish  all  the  follies  and 
vices  of  man ;  and  his  fashionable  vices  and  follies 
are  the  greatest  which  he  practices,  and,  conse- 
quently, produce  the  most  disastrous  effects.  It  is 


FOLLIES  OF    FASHION.  247 

because  fashion  and  nature  prescribe  different  modes 
of  conduct  to  man,  and  those  who  follow  the  former 
are  held  strictly  amenable  to  the  laws  of  the  latter. 
It  is  because  God  has  made  honest  labor  the  source 
of  all  substantial  human  enjoyment,  and  the  fountain 
of  purity  and  virtue ;  while  fashion  considers  virtuous 
effort  to  be  disgraceful  to  the  person  of  taste  and 
accomplishment,  thus  establishing  the  monstrous  and 
abominable  doctrine  that  it  is  disgraceful  to  man  to 
conform  to  the  will  of  his  Creator.  Can  any  thing 
be  more  monstrous  than  the  founding  principle  of 
modern  fashion,  which  requires,  that  in  order  to  be 
a  lady  or  a  gentleman  before  the  eyes  of  men,  it  is 
necessary  to  become  an  unpardonable  sinner  in  the 
sight  of  God. 

God  has  required  honest  labor  at  the  hands  of 
man  as  the  first  condition  of  his  earthly  existence, 
and,  consequently,  the  Creator  has  adopted  all  the 
means  by  which  human  happiness  can  be  secured  to 
this  fundamental  law  of  nature.  But  fashion  does 
not  like  this  arrangement,  and  so  she  raises  the 
standard  of  rebellion,  and  says  that  those  who  are 
vulgar  enough  to  wish  to  stand  high  in  the  favor 
of  God  may  labor  if  they  choose,  but  those  who  wish 
to  stand  high  in  her  favor  must  not  labor  at  any 
of  the  most  essential  occupations  of  life.  God  says 
to  man,  Work !  but  fashion  says  not  so ;  it  is  dis- 
graceful for  a  respectable  man  to  work ;  none  but 
the  vulgar  and  low-born  work  under  my  rule :  thus 
the  serfs  in  the  kingdom  of  fashion  will  be  the  no- 
bility in  the  kingdom  of  God.  But  God  does  not 
say,  work  to  accumulate  unnecessary  stores  of  wealth, 
and  to  inflict  evil  upon  your  fellow-beings;  this  is 
vicious  effort;  but  work  to  secure  your  own  true 
happiness,  and  to  promote  that  of  others ;  this  is 
virtuous  effort;  therefore,  all  those  who  labor  at 


248  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

the  essential  occupations  of  life  do  not  thereby  serve 
God,  but  are  too  often  only  making  desperate  efforts 
to  serve  fashion. 

Now  virtuous  labor,  or  the  proper  exercise  of  all 
the  mental  and  physical  capacities  of  man,  being  a 
fundamental  law  of  human  nature,  and  God  having 
adjusted  all  the  conditions  of  human  happiness  to 
this  law,  it  follows  that  all  the  arrangements  of  man 
which  violate  this  law  are  inherently  vicious,  and 
consequently  produce  suffering  and  misery.  How 
vicious,  then,  is  fashion,  when  it  proscribes  as  most 
disgraceful  and  degrading  to  man  those  occupations 
which  are  most  essential  to  human  happiness,  and 
even  to  human  existence.  And,  again :  how  vicious 
is  it  when  it  receives  with  the  highest  favor  those 
occupations  which  are  not  essential  to  human  hap- 
piness or  existence,  but,  on  the  contrary,  exert  a 
most  pernicious  influence  upon  both.  It  really  seems 
that  the  single  fact,  that  fashion  regards  as  degrading 
to  man,  many  of  those  employments  which  are  within 
themselves  necessarily  honest  and  virtuous,  and  re- 
gards as  most  honorable  and  ennobling  those  occu- 
pations which  are  wrong  and  sinful,  and  can  not  be 
justified  by  the  principles  of  true  virtue,  should  con- 
vince every  rational  being  that  the  fashion  of  the 
age  is  founded  in  wickedness  and  sin,  and  that  it  is 
the  first  duty  of  every  moral  and  religious  person, 
instead  of  following  in  its  lead,  to  join  in  the  war- 
fare against  its  power. 

It  is  a  fact  which  no  one  dare  deny,  that  if  a  per- 
son engage  in  the  more  humble  and  honest  occu- 
pations of  life,  those  occupations  upon  which  human 
existence  itself  depends,  and  from  which  we  derive 
our  most  substantial  pleasures  and  enjoyments,  that 
person  is  considered  disgraced  and  degraded,  and 
must  occupy  a  position  in  the  scale  of  respectability 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  249 

far  below  the  idle,  useless,  worthless  drone  of  fashion. 
Those  who  produce  with  their  own  hands  the  neces- 
saries which  sustain  human  life,  and  add  to  the  com- 
forts and  enjoyments  of  man,  are  not  respectable; 
but  those  who  speculate  upon  these  necessaries,  and 
thus  extort  their  ill-gotten  gains  from  the  suffering 
consumers,  are  in  the  highest  degree  respectable. 
No  rectitude  of  intention,  no  honesty  of  purpose, 
nor  the  practice  of  the  most  commendable  virtue  and 
morality,  can  save  the  honest  producers  and  workers 
among  mankind  from  their  impending  doom.  They 
are  fulfilling  the  demands  of  nature,  and  violating  the 
requirements  of  fashion,  and,  consequently,  they  are 
not  persons  of  taste  and  respectability ;  and  the  only 
way  that  they  can  become  respectable  is  to  become 
fashionable,  and  cease  to  contribute  to,  and  com- 
mence preying  upon,  the  welfare  of  humanity.  They 
are  subject  to  the  laws  of  nature,  which  enjoin  labor 
upon  man,  while  the  votaries  of  fashion  have  ex- 
empted themselves  from  this  law,  and  regard  them- 
selves as  a  superior  class  of  persons  merely  because 
they  are  violating  the  will  of  God  and  the  laws  of 
nature.  This  we  should  call  the  aristocracy  of  sin 
and  the  nobility  of  wickedness. 

Ceaseless  action  is  the  first  law  of  nature.  Noth- 
ing remains  permanently  stationary  in  all  the  creation 
of  God.  Every  thing  must  advance  or  retrograde, 
flourish  or  decay;  and,  while  every  thing  by  which 
man  is  surrounded  is  thus  in  ceaseless  action,  why 
should  he  seek  to  detach  himself  from  the  per- 
petual motion  of  the  universe,  while  every  thing  else 
in  nature  is  marching  onward  in  obedience  to  the 
will  of  its  great  Author,  and  fulfilling  the  high  pur- 
poses of  creation,  why  should  man  lie  listlessly  by, 
idle,  useless,  worthless?  Can  he  imagine  that  the 
noble  attributes  with  which  he  is  endowed  are  with- 


250  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

out  an  important  design  ?  Can  he  suppose  that  God 
has  breathed  the  impetus  of  action  into  all  his  other 
creations,  and  left  this,  the  master-piece  of  all  his 
earthly  workmanship,  without  any  agency  to  perform 
except  that  of  a  useless  drone  and  idler,  hanging  like 
a  dead  weight  upon  the  moving  machinery  of  the 
universe  ?  Yet  such  a  being  is  the  beau-ideal  of 
human  perfection,  according  to  the  fashionable  no- 
tions of  the  age.  The  more  he  is  enabled  to  escape 
honest  effort  by  trickery  and  wrong,  and  to  evade 
the  requirements  of  God,  the  more  worthy  he  con- 
siders himself.  The  highest  state  of  felicity  and 
respectability  which  man  can  reach,  according  to 
modern  notions,  is  to  be  placed  in  such  a  situation 
that  he  is  not  obliged  to  contribute  any  effort  to  the 
production  of  the  necessaries  of  human  existence 
and  welfare,  and  to  be  able  to  extravagantly  con- 
sume and  destroy  those  which  have  been*  produced 
by  the  honest  efforts  of  others. 

But  while  the  prevailing  customs  of  the  day  are 
thus  founded  in  the  false  principles  that  man  is  de- 
graded by  the  discharge  of  those  duties  which  are 
most  essential  to  his  being,  and  that  the  extravagant 
loafers  and  drones  of  community  are  its  most  re- 
spectable members,  they  are  guilty  of  still  greater 
sins  and  wickedness.  If  fashion  permits  its  votaries  to 
engage  in  active  occupation  of  any  kind,  it  generally 
recommends  to  them  those  kinds  of  employments 
which  contribute  least  to  the  happiness  of  mankind; 
and  not  only  this,  but,  if  we  seriously  investigate 
their  influence  upon  society,  we  shall  find  that  those 
occupations  which  are  regarded  as  most  respectable 
in  the  circles  of  fashion,  are  those  which  are  most 
condemned  by  the  principles  of  true  virtue  and 
religion.  According  to  these  principles,  an  employ- 
ment is  respectable  just  in  the  proportion  that  it 


FOLLIES  OP  FASHION.  251 

contributes  to  the  happiness  and  welfare  of  the  hu- 
man race,  and  it  is  disrespectable  just  in  proportion 
to  its  tendency  to  produce  suffering  and  misery. 
Of  course,  if  we  were  to  throw  aside  all  fashion  and 
false  notions,  we  would  entertain  the  highest  regard 
for  those  who  contribute  most  to  our  enjoyment  and 
happiness,  and  regard  with  the  greatest  abhorrence 
those  whose  efforts  produce  the  greatest  evils.  Cer- 
tainly the  benefactors  of  mankind  should  receive 
its  respect  and  gratitude,  its  malefactors  should  be 
spurned  from  respectable  society. 

But  the  very  reverse  of  this  too  often  obtains 
where  fashion  rules.  Those  who  confer  the  greatest 
benefits  upon  mankind  are  too  frequently  those  who 
are  regarded  with  the  least  respect,  and  who  endure 
the  greatest  wrongs  and  oppressions,  while  those 
who  receive  its  highest  respect  and  favor  are  often 
those  who  prey  upon  its  happiness  and  welfare. 
Those  who  produce  the  necessaries  of  life  are  con- 
sidered as  the  least  respectable  portion  of  mankind, 
while  those  who  contribute  nothing  to  human  happi- 
ness, or  those  who  recklessly  gamble  in  these  neces- 
saries, and  who  add  nothing  to  their  real  value,  or  to 
their  qualities  for  supplying  the  wants  of  humanity, 
but  who  amass  them  together  in  unnecessary  quan- 
tities, and  withhold  them  from  the  purposes  for  which 
nature  designed  them,  or  destroy  them  in  useless  ex- 
travagance, these  are  considered  superior  to  the 
former  class,  and  it  really  would  seem  for  no  other 
reason  but  that  they  inflict  injuries  upon  the  human 
race,  while  the  producing  class  confer  benefits.  This 
is  analogous  to  the  principle  which  has  prevailed  in 
all  ages,  of  considering  the  greatest  butchers  of  the 
human  race  as  its  greatest  men;  and  mankind  has 
always  bestowed  its  gratitude  and  respect  upon  these 


252  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

human  butchers  just  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
human  beings  they  have  slaughtered. 

How  false,  then,  are  the  fashionable  distinctions 
which  are  made  in  society.  They  are  not  founded 
in  justice,  in  virtue,  in  morality,  or  in  religion. 
They  are  not  pointed  out  by  the  finger  of  God,  nor 
traced  upon  the  face  of  nature.  Are  not  the  hum- 
bler occupations,  which  produce  the  necessaries  of 
life,  and  which  are  so  degrading  in  the  sight  of 
fashion,  are  they  not  perfectly  honest  and  virtuous  ? 
And  shall  the  practice  of  virtue  and  honesty  be  dis- 
creditable to  man  ?  Do  not  these  occupations  com- 
prise, the  most  essential  duties  of  life,  and  shall  man 
be  disgraced  by  their  faithful  discharge?  Has  not 
God  strictly  enjoined  them  upon  man,  and  shall  man 
be  degraded  by  obeying  the  will  of  God  ?  But  are 
many  of  the  employments  which  fashion  considers 
as  most  honorable  and  respectable  to  man,  as  they 
are  fashionably  practiced,  are  they  consistent  with 
the  principle  of  true  morality  and  religion  ?  If 
they  are  not  consistent  with  these  principles,  how 
can  their  practice  render  man  more  respectable? 
How  can  the  practice  of  injustice  and  immorality 
ennoble  human  nature  ? 

Mankind  has  become  accustomed  to  look  with 
contempt  upon  humble  integrity,  and  to  smile  upon 
glittering,  fashionable  dishonesty.  Nothing  could 
have  a  stronger  tendency  to  discourage  the  practice 
of  virtue,  and  to  plunge  the  race  into  vice.  Every 
honest  effort  carries  within  itself  inherent  virtue, 
and  vice  is  inseparably  connected  with  every  dis- 
honest effort;  and  this  is  equally  true  in  regard  to 
the  conduct  of  the  humblest  citizen  and  the  proudest 
aristocrat.  The  humbleness  of  an  effort  will  not 
mar  its  loveliness  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  all  the 
glittering  pomp  of  fashion  can  not  conceal  from  the 


FOLLIES   OF  FASHION.  253 

eye  of  Omnipotence  the  native  ugliness  of  an  im- 
moral or  an  unjust  act.  Although  human  fashion 
may  test  the  respectability  of  occupations  by  the 
test  of  its  own  false  principles,  and  decide  that  they 
are  ennobling  or  degrading  to  man  according  to  its 
prevailing  caprices,  yet  before  the  bar  of  God  the 
respectability  of  action  is  tested  by  a  different  stand- 
ard, and  the  fashions  which  there  prevail  are  the 
principles  of  eternal  truth  and  eternal  justice.  The 
integrity,  virtue  and  morality  of  an  action  are  the 
only  true  tests  of  its  respectability,  and  the  follies 
and  vices  of  peasants  and  princes  are  equally  wrong. 
Let  it  be  remembered,  then,  that  it  is  not  the  fash- 
ionableness  or  unfashionableness  of  an  effort  which 
constitutes  its  true  merit,  nor  yet  its  exaltedness  or 
humbleness  in  the  opinions  of  men,  but  its  honesty 
of  purpose,  and  its  effect  upon  the  welfare  and 
happiness  of  the  human  race.  Let  us  all,  there- 
fore, honestly  and  faithfully  discharge  those  duties 
which  God  requires  at  our  hands,  in  whatever  sphere 
of  life  our  lot  may  be  cast,  and  although  the  dis- 
charge of  honest  duty  may  degrade  us  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  fashionable  world,  let  us  receive  en- 
couragement from  the  reflection  that  in  that  world, 
where  man  receives  his  final  reward,  humble  honesty 
is  not  disgraceful,  nor  fashionable  viciousness  re- 
spectable. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  a  large  portion  of  those 
whom  fashion  excludes  from  respectable  circles,  are 
not  morally  respectable ;  that  those  who  are  employed 
in  the  humbler  and  more  essential  occupations  of  life, 
are  not  qualified,  in  a  moral  and  intellectual  capacity, 
to  associate  in  the  higher  circles  of  life.  This,  in 
the  present  state  of  the  human  race,  is  true.  But 
why  is  this  so?  Is  it  the  result  of  any  natural  in- 
stitution ?  Is  it  the  work  of  God  or  man  ?  It  re- 


254  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

suits  from  the  false  constitution  of  society,  and  this 
constitution  of  society  results  from  the  prevailing 
customs  of  man,  so  that  fashion  itself  is  to  blame 
for  that  for  which  it  proscribes,  and  condemns  the 
humbler  classes  of  community.  Why  are  the  hum- 
bler classes  more  degraded  as  moral  and  intellectual 
beings?  Is  it  because  they  are  a  different  species 
of  the  human  race?  Has  God  created  as  many 
different  kind  of  human  beings  as  there  are  classes 
among  men?  Not  so.  He  has  created  but  one  kind 
of  human  beings,  and  that  is  man,  and  this  man  is 
endowed  with  the  natural  attributes  of  a  moral  and 
an  intellectual  being.  These  attributes  exist  in  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  strength  and  action,  but  there  is 
no  human  being  of  sound  mind  and  body,  but  who, 
if  he  faithfully  discharge  all  the  duties  which  his 
Creator  requires  at  his  hands,  and  properly  exercises 
and  develops  all  the  natural  functions  with  which  he 
is  endowed,  may  become  a  respectable,  moral  and 
intellectual  being,  worthy  to  associate  in  the  best 
moral  and  intellectual  society,  and  enjoy  happiness 
himself,  and  contribute  to  the  happiness  of  others. 
Hence,  if  we  have  classes  in  society  who  are  un- 
worthy moral  and  intellectual  beings,  it  does  not 
result  from  the  institutions  of  nature,  but  from  the 
institutions  of  man,  and  these  institutions  are  mod- 
eled according  to  the  prevailing  customs,  and  not 
according  to  the  dictates  of  independent  and  enlight- 
ened rationality. 

But  from  what  particular  error  in  the  constitution 
of  society  does  this  moral  and  intellectual  depravity, 
in  the  lower  orders  of  mankind,  result?  Perhaps 
classes  in  society  are  unavoidable,  as  men  are  va- 
riously endowed  by  nature,  but  as  all  men  are  en- 
dowed with  the  same  mental  and  moral  faculties, 
but  in  different  degrees  of  strength,  and  as  these 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  255 

be  farther  strengthened  by  proper  cultivation, 
it  follows  that  all  men  may  become  moral  and  intel- 
lectual beings,  but  not  equally  so.  Hence,  classes 
in  society  should  be  based  upon  moral  and  intellec- 
tual capacity.  This  is  the  social  institution  pointed 
out  by  nature.  But  how  is  it  in  the  existing  state 
of  society?  Why,  some  of  the  most  moral  men  are 
classed  in  the  lower  orders  of  society,  while  many 
of  the  most  immoral  persons  flourish  in  the  very 
highest  circles  of  fashion,  and  many  a  splendid  mind 
is  obscured  by  its  unfavorable  position  in  society, 
while  many  a  popinjay,  who  never  had  a  thought 
of  hjs  own  in  his  life,  and  has  just  sense  enough 
to  pride  himself  in  his  fashionable  servitude,  figures 
extensively  in  the  "  best  society."  It  is  the  length 
of  his  purse,  and  not  his  moral  and  intellectual 
capacity,  which  assigns  to  man  his  position  in  society 
at  the  present  day. 

Such  social  customs,  so  directly  in  violation  of  the 
requirements  of  nature,  unavoidably  involves  society 
in  the  most  ruinous  consequences.  Their  effects  ex- 
tend to  every  class  of  society,  to  the  higher  not  less 
than  the  lower  order,  and,  consequently,  vice  and 
misery  pervades  the  entire  social  system.  But  let 
us  look  at  the  practical  effects  as  they  are  manifested 
before  us.  It  has  been  shown  in  a  former  essay  that 
only  one-fourth  of  the  time  and  effort  of  man  are 
required  to  administer  to  all  his  natural,  physical 
wants.  How  conclusively  this  demonstrates  that  it 
is  the  design  of  God  that  the  moral  and  intellectual 
sentiments  of  man  should  exercise  a  supremacy  over 
his  physical  and  animal  nature,  and  that  the  greater 
portion  of  his  time  and  effort  are  required  to  properly 
cultivate  and  develop  his  moral  and  intellectual 
nature.  Hence  if  it  be  true  that  the  proper  gratifi- 


256  MODERN    FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

cation  of  man's  physical  nature  requires  but  one- 
fourth  of  his  time  with  well  directed  effort,  it  follows 
that,  in  properly  constituted  society,  three-fourths  of 
his  time  and  effort  should  be  devoted  to  the  proper 
cultivation  of  his  moral  and  intellectual  nature.  Now 
compare  this  with  the  existing  constitution  of  society. 
The  lower  orders  of  society  are  required  to  produce 
all  the  necessaries  of  life,  which  occupies  almost  the 
whole  of  their  time,  and,  consequently,  their  moral 
and  intellectual  natures  are  almost  entirely  neglected, 
while  the  higher  orders  are  thus  in  a  great  measure 
relieved  of  the  necessity  of  virtuous  effort,  and  are 
impelled  by  the  energies  of  their  nature  into  the 
practice  of  vice.  Thus  are  the  beneficent  designs 
of  God  frustrated  by  human  conduct,  and  vice,  in 
some  of  its  shapes,  creeps  into  almost  all  human  af- 
fairs, and  misery  and  suffering,  the  penalties  of  vio- 
lated nature,  abound  among  men.  Properly  consti- 
tuted society  requires  that  each  of  its  members  should 
discharge  his  honest  portion  of  the  essential  duties 
of  life,  affording  virtuous  gratification  to  all  the  func- 
tions of  mind  and  body,  and  cultivating  his  moral  and 
intellectual  nature  as  the  capital  means  of  attaining 
true  happiness.  Then  would  society  be  founded  up- 
on the  basis  of  nature,  and  all  its  members  would  be 
moral  and  intellectual  beings. 

Some  of  the  greatest  evils  which  vicious  fashion 
inflicts  upon  the  human  race  result  from  the  want 
of  virtuous  action  in  fashionable  circles.  Useful  oc- 
cupation is  the  primary  source  of  virtuous  action. 
But  the  most  useful  occupations  of  life  are  those 
which  fashion  proscribes  as  most  degrading  to  man ; 
and  hence,  as  he  can  not  become  respectable  by 
means  of  humble  usefulness,  there  is  a  continual  effort 


FOLLIES  OF   FASHION.  257 

in  society  to  escape  these  degrading  occupations,  and 
to  become  fashionable,  that  is,  to  live  without  virtuous 
and  useful  effort. 

Man  can  not  attain  his  proper  state  of  physical, 
moral,  and  intellectual  maturity  and  development, 
except  by  means  of  the  useful  occupations  of  life. 
The  opinion  seems  to  prevail  among  men,  that  life  is 
a  continual  struggle  of  exhausting  toil  and  care,  that 
God  has  so  created  man,  and  placed  him  in  the  midst 
of  such  surrounding  circumstances,  that  all  the  plea- 
sures which  he  enjoys  are  only  the  considerations  of 
the  toil  and  pain  which  he  suffers,  and  that  he  is  driven 
to  the  performance  of  the  unpleasant  duties  of  life 
by  the  lash  of  his  unavoidable  necessities.  It  is  true 
that  man  has,  in  every  age  of  the  world,  and  does  at 
the  present  day,  drag  through  life  by  a  toilsome  path 
of  drudgery  and  suffering ;  but  that  path  is  not  the 
one  which  is  pointed  out  to  him  by  the  God  of  nature, 
but  the  one  unto  which  he  has  been  guided  by  his 
own  follies  and  errors.  It  is  too  true  that  man.  to- 
day enjoys  but  very  few  of  the  natural  pleasures  and 
gratifications  of  virtuous  life,  and  that  he  endures  suf- 
fering and  misery  in  many  forms  and  shapes;  but 
who  will  have  the  hardihood  to  charge  these  evils  to 
the  Author  of  nature  ?  God  never  was  the  author 
of  a  single  pang  of  human  suffering  or  woe.  Benefi- 
cence beams  forth  from  all  His  creations. 

Who  will  say  that  even  His  most  fearful  pun- 
ishments are  not  beneficent,  for  who  will  deny  the 
beneficence  of  the  punishment  of  vice.  Pure  plea- 
sure and  enjoyment  are  the  rewards  of  obedience  to 
the  natural  laws  by  which  He  governs  man ;  inevitable 
misery  and  suffering  are  the  penalties  of  disobedience. 
These  laws  are  registered  in  the  book  of  nature,  and 
exemplified  by  the  experience  of  life,  and,  by  the  aid 
of  properly  developed  reason,  man  may  ascertain 
22 


258  MODERN   FANCIES  AND   FOLLIES. 

r   • 

them  so  far  as  they  are  essential  to  his  happiness. 
Yet,  with  all  these  advantages,  and  with  the  experi- 
ence of  six  thousand  years,  he  remains  an  incompre- 
hensible enigma  to  himself,  and  can  not  tell  why  he 
enjoys  so  little  real  pleasure  and  suffers  so  much 
pain. 

The  most  orthodox  professors  of  religion  have 
been  unable  to  reconcile  the  pure  beneficence  of 
God  with  the  existence  of  so  much  human  suffering 
and  misery.  The  difficulty  arises  merely  because 
the  works  of  God  are  not  sufficiently  understood. 
The  doctrine  amounts  to  simply  this,  that  God  is 
not  purely  benevolent,  because  man  disobeys  the 
laws  of  God.  He  has  instituted  natural  laws  which 
man,  as  a  rational  being,  and  as  a  free  agent,  can 
obey,  and  by  obedience  he  may  attain  happiness  and 
avoid  misery.  Why,  then,  if  man  choose  to  disobey, 
should  he  charge  the  effects  of  his  own  sins  upon  his 
Creator  ?  But  it  will  be  asked,  if  God  is  almighty 
and  purely  benevolent,  why  did  He  riot  so  create 
man  that  he  would  not  be  subject  to  suffering  arid 
misery  ?  Now,  if  we  may  be  allowed  to  justify  the 
ways  of  God  to  man.  we  will  reason  in  this  way : 

When  God  created  man  He  did  not  intend  to 
create  a  being  equal  with  himself,  but  He  merely 
intended  to  create  a  subordinate  being,  and  that 
subjection  to  laws  established  by  a  superior  power 
is  the  essential  principle  of  all  subordination.  But 
if  it  be  admitted  that  man  was  intended  to  be  an  in- 
ferior being,  and  subject  to  the  laws  which  were  estab- 
lished by  his  Creator,  it  must  also  be  admitted  that 
if  man  was  to  be  left  a  free  agent,  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  attach  penalties  to  the  violation  of  these 
laws,  for  it  is  perfectly  evident  that  no  such  being 
will  obey  laws  which  it  makes  no  difference  to  him 
whether  he  obey  them  or  not ;  and  thus  man  would 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  259 

not  be  placed  under  the  government  of  his  Creator, 
and  God  Avould  thus  defeat  his  own  purposes.  But  if 
man  is  not  to  be  subjected  to  the  laws  of  a  superior 
power,  and  is  to  be  exempted  from  all  pain  and 
misery,  and  all  those  frailties  which  constitute  an 
inferior  being,  he  would  himself  be  a  God,  and 
therefore  the  doctrine  just  amounts  to  this,  that  God 
is  not  purely  benevolent,  because  He  did  not  create 
a  God  instead  of  a  man.  The  establishment  of  laws, 
therefore,  for  the  government  of  man  being  abso- 
lutely necessary,  how  manifest  is  the  benevolence 
of  God  displayed  by  the  establishment  of  such  a 
system  of  natural  laws  that  they  all  conduce  to 
enjoyment  and  happiness  of  man  when  he  yields 
them  obedience,  that  their  establishment  was  coeval, 
at  least  with  his  own  birth,  and  their  operations  uni- 
versal and  invariable. 

But  the  human  system  is  so  constituted  that  the 
action  which  is  required  to  supply  its  natural  wants 
is  the  primary  source  of  true  happiness.  Man  is  so 
created  that  he  is  continually  subject  to  wants,  and 
God,  in  his  beneficence,  has  so  constituted  the  scheme 
of  nature,  that  it  is  precisely  adapted  to  this  condi- 
tion of  man,  and  he  is  therefore  endowed  with  facul- 
ties and  powers  to  which  the  efforts  necessary  to 
supply  these  wants  afford  a  pleasing  gratification, 
and  hence  the  happiness  which  God  designed,  and 
has  qualified  man  to  enjoy,  consists  of  a  twofold 
nature :  first,  the  action  which  is  necessary  to  pro- 
duce the  means  which  supply  his  natural  wants 
afford  a  grateful  and  healthy  exercise  to  his  physical 
and  intellectual  endowments  ;  and,  secondly,  the  grat- 
ification of  his  natural  wants  with  the  means  thus 
produced  affords  him  real  pleasure  and  enjoyment, 
arid  produces  no  suffering  or  misery,  and  therefore, 
did  man  follow  the  path  which  God  in  his  works  has 


260  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

pointed  out  to  him,  it  would  not  be  as  it  now  is; 
that  while  exhausting  toil  and  excessive  labor,  by 
defeating  the  scheme  of  nature,  destroys  the  happi- 
ness of  a  large  portion  of  mankind,  and  the  want 
of  virtuous  effort  and  the  excessive  gratification  of 
artificial  wants  destroy  the  happiness  of  the  balance. 
Hence  this  course  of  conduct  has  the  effect  of  a 
twofold  curse  upon  man.  These  acquired  wants 
being  insatiable,  their  demands  require  a  greater 
amount  of  physical  effort  upon  the  part  of  those 
who  produce  the  means  of  their  gratification  than  is 
in  accordance  with  the  established  scheme  of  nature, 
and  is  accordingly  punished  as  a  violation  of  nature, 
while  in  the  other  division  of  society,  the  want  of 
proper  physical  exertion,  and  the  indulgence  of 
acquired  wants,  are  necessarily  vicious,  and  are  also 
punished  as  violations  of  nature.  Hence  the  almost 
universal  unhappiness  of  man. 

Accordingly,  we  may  establish  as  the  true  test  of 
virtue,  the  principle  that  any  action  which  affords 
proper  gratification  to  any  natural  human  endow- 
ment, physical,  moral,  or  intellectual,  is  virtuous, 
and  every  action  which  does  not  afford  such  grati- 
fication is  vicious.  Applying  this  test  to  the  prac- 
tical affairs  of  life,  we  safely  arrive  at  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  useful  occupations  of  life  are  the  pri- 
mary sources  of  virtue,  for  they  alone  can  afford 
the  proper  exercise  to  the  natural  faculties  of  man, 
and  supply  his  natural  wants.  But  fashion  pro- 
nounces the  most  essential  of  these  occupations  to 
be  degrading  to  man,  while  many  of  those  which  it 
considers  as  the  most  respectable  employments,  do 
not  afford  virtuous  gratification  to  any  of  his  natural 
faculties,  or  supply  any  of  his  natural  wants,  and 
are  therefore  vicious ;  consequently,  according  to  the 
prevailing  principles  of  fashion,  man  is  degraded  by 


FOLLIES   OF  FASHION.  261 

virtue,  and  rendered  respectable  by  vice.  Now, 
placing  ourselves  upon  the  fundamental  principle  of 
human  nature,  that  all  the  physical,  moral,  and  in- 
tellectual endowments  of  man  can  only  be  strength- 
ened and  properly  developed  by  virtuous  exercise, 
and  as  the  useful  occupations  of  life  are  the  only 
legitimate  sources  of  virtuous  exercise,  we  are  ne- 
cessarily conducted  to  the  conclusion  that  man  can 
not  attain  his  proper  state  of  physical,  moral,  and 
intellectual  maturity  and  development  except  by 
means  of  the  useful  occupations  of  life.  Of  course, 
the  useful  occupations  or  employments  of  life  com- 
prise those  which  supply  his  moral  and  intellectual 
wants,  as  well  as  those  which  supply  his  physical 
wants. 

Whence  sprung  this  ruling  tyrant,  who  so  arbi- 
trarily and  capriciously  governs  human  conduct,  and 
who  dares  to  set  up  its  own  image,  and  bid  man  to 
worship  it  ?  Who  invested  him  with  his  power,  or 
whence  does  he  derive  his  absolute  authority?  Has 
God  invested  him  with  this  crushing  power  over 
human  conduct?  No.  God  has  armed  man  with 
the  weapons  of  reason  to  enable  him  to  defend  him- 
self against  the  effects  of  such  truckling  vassalage, 
but  he  has  failed  to  avail  himself  of  the  means  of 
defense,  and  the  advancing  conqueror  has  securely 
fastened  his  fetters  upon  the  world  of  humanity,  and 
man  has  become  the  willing,  but  abject  slave  of 
fashion.  Endowed  with  all  the  faculties  of  inde- 
pendent rationality,  which,  if  properly  exerted,  would 
lead  him  to  truth  and  virtue,  his  highest  ambition  is 
to  be  a  loyal  subject  to  his  ruling  despot,  and  to  do 
as  other  people  do.  Now,  as  other  people  have  fallen 
very  much  in  the  habit  of  doing  wrong  and  prac- 
ticing vice  and  error,  it  follows,  that  if  he  is  faithful 


262  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

to  his  allegiance,  his  duty  will  lead  him  into  the  prac- 
tice of  vice  and  error.  Thus  the  practice  of  vice  and 
error  is  perpetuated  from  generation  to  generation; 
and  as  each  predecessor  trod  the  paths  of  suffering 
and  misery,  so  does  each  successor;  and  thus  man 
moves  on  from  age  to  age,  without  making  any 
efficient  effort  to  free  himself  from  this  degrading 
bondage. 

But  in  what  part  of  his  universal  empire  does  this 
despot  hold  his  seat  of  government?  From  whence 
does  he  send  forth  his  arbitrary  mandates  to  his  loyal 
subjects?  Do  mankind  know  the  whereabouts  or  the 
wherefore  of  the  authority  which  they  so  willingly 
obey?  Why,  some  foreign  empress  has  bundled  her- 
self up  in  some  fantastical  shape,  and  of  course  all 
the  fashionable  world  must  bundle  themselves  up  in 
the  same  fantastical  shape.  If  she  expands  herself 
into  an  eighteen  feet  circumference,  of  course  inde- 
pendent republican  ladies  would  not  be  respectable 
unless  they  also  measure  eighteen  feet  around  the 
skirts  ;  or  some  foreign  courtly  nabob  dons  his  wear- 
ing apparel  in  some  particular  shape,  and,  conse- 
quently, all  the  chivalrous  young  men  who  greatly 
boast  of  their  independence,  must  don  theirs  in  the 
same  particular  shape;  and  these  same  young  men 
would  become  furiously  indignant  were  they  charged 
with  being  mere  aping  animals.  Or,  some  person 
who  is  looked  upon  as  a  leader  among  men,  acts  or 
thinks  in  a  certain  manner,  and  the  whole  aping 
world  reasons  thus :  Well,  if  it  is  proper  for  him  to 
act  and  think  so,  it  is  certainly  so  for  me  also;  when, 
in  fact,  actions  and  thoughts  are  not  in  any  case 
right  merely  because  they  are  those  of  certain  per- 
sons; and  thus  people  are  led  into  slavish  error 
without  making  any  independent  effort  to  prevent  it. 

Now  this  is  certain,  that  the  farther  man  follows 


FOLLIES   OF  FASHION.  263 

this  ignus-fatuus  the  farther  it  leads  him  into  the 
swamp;  and,  just  in  proportion  as  he  yields  to  its 
rule,  he  is  neither  an  independent  nor  a  rational 
being.  And  this  capricious,  fleeting,  fantastical  crea- 
ture of  human  folly  holds  a  despotic  reign  over  hu- 
man reason,  and  its  authority  prevails  among  men 
against  the  authority  of  independent  rationality. 
How,  then,  can  it  be  wondered  that  man  is  misled, 
that  the  sources  of  his  pleasures  and  his  happiness 
are  perverted  into  the  sources  of  his  suffering  and 
misery;  that  his  groans  mingle  with  the  sounds  of 
his  revelry,  and  that  his  glittering,  gaudy  super- 
ficialities only  conceal  an  aching  heart  and  a  sick- 
ened soul  ?  At  the  bidding  of  fashion,  with  all  his 
boasted  learning,  religion,  and  civilization,  he  spurns 
honest  effort,  the  divinely-appointed  source  of  virtue 
and  happiness;  and  thus  obstinately  refusing  to  fol- 
low the  path  which  leads  to  happiness,  because  he  is 
unhappy  he  charges  his  Creator  with  malevolence  of 
design.  He  resorts  to  all  manner  of  dishonest  arti- 
fices in  order  to  cheat  his  Creator  and  his  fellow-man 
out  of  the  virtuous  duties  which  he  honestly  owes, 
and  to  try  to  "  sponge "  out  his  existence  upon  the 
means  which  have  been  produced  by  the  honest  efforts 
of  others ;  and  for  this  baseness  he  is  honored  before 
the  world. 

The  impression  which  honest  labor  makes  upon  the 
hands  and  countenance  is  the  seal  of  virtue,  and  yet 
there  is  nothing  more  disrespectable  in  the  sight  of 
fashion  than  the  impression  which  is  thus  made. 
People  shudder  at  the  very  thought  of  carrying  upoii 
their  persons  the  indelible  impression  which  proves 
so  conclusively  that  they  have  been  compelled  to  de-: 
grade  themselves  by  performing  useful  and  virtuous 
physical  labor.  They  feel  humbled  and  degraded 
when  they  behold  the  hand  which  has  been  hardened, 


264  MODERN    FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

the  body  which  has  been  invigorated,  and  the  counte- 
nance which  has  lost  its  sickly  delicacy,  in  the  service 
of  virtue  by  honest  effort.  Why  is  this  so  ?  Does  it 
really  disfigure  the  person  of  man  to  discharge  those 
duties  which  are  essential  to  his  existence?  Has 
God  given  man  a  symmetrical  form  and  then  cruelly 
required  of  him  duties  which  destroys  its  beautiful 
proportions  ?  Not  so.  What  then  V  Why,  it  is  not 
fashionable.  Ah,  there  is  the  "rub."  Little  deli- 
cate white  hands,  and  a  carefully  bleached  counten- 
ance, which  show  that  their  owner  has  never  de- 
graded himself  or  herself  by  the  discharge  of  the 
virtuous  duties  of  life,  these  are  the  unmistakable 
indications  that  such  person  belongs  to  the  "  best  so- 
ciety," and  is,  therefore,  thoroughly  fashionable, 
worthless  and  respectable.  How  cruel  then  is  the 
fate  of  those  whose  stern  necessities  drive  them  to 
the  discharge  of  honest  duty,  for  they  are  thereby 
not  only  degraded  in  the  fashionable  world,  but  the 
virtuous  effort  sets  its  seal  upon  their  persons,  and 
thus,  all  the  world  may  know  that  they  are  not  good 
society.  No  votary  of  fashion  must  be  disgraced  by 
honest  labor,  and  if  he  engage  in  virtuous  effort,  it 
•will  set  its  seal  upon  his  face  and  hands,  and  thus  it 
may  easily  be  seen  that  he  has  been  degrading  him- 
self by  performing  his  duty,  and,  consequently,  he 
must  be  kicked  out  of  our  "  best  society,"  for  such 
things  are  unpardonable  there. 

If  the  face  and  hands  be  kept  delicate  and  white, 
it  matters  but  little  about  the  color  of  the  heart. 
Thus  those  whose  hearts  are  stained  by  the  influences 
of  vice,  and  who  are  devoid  of  the  essential  requi- 
sites of  true  respectability,  may  constitute  the  best 
society  among  men  ;  but  be  assured  that  those  of 
humble  virtue  and  honesty,  whose  persons  bear  upon 
them  the  impression  of  virtue's  seal,  but  who  are  ex- 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  265 

eluded  from  the  higher  circles  of  society  upon  earth, 
will  constitute  the  best  society  in  that  state  of  ex- 
istence where  the  practice  of  human  folly  and  vice 
is  not  the  means  of  becoming  respectable.  "  The 
first  shall  be  last,  and  the  last  shall  be  first."  That 
which  is  evidence  of  a  gentleman  among  men,  will 
be  evidence  of  a  sinner  among  angels. 

Yet,  how  fearful  are  the  votaries  of  fashion  that 
they  shall  bear  upon  their  persons  the  slightest  mark 
of  honest  effort.  The  young  lady  is  more  fearful  of 
a  stain  upon  her  hand  than  a  blotch  upon  her  soul. 
She  can  not  bear  the  thought  of  appearing  in  society 
with  the  slightest  indication  upon  her  delicate  fingers, 
that  she  has  been  honestly  and  virtuously  engaged  in 
the  discharge  of  those  duties  which  God  requires  of 
her,  and  the  happiness  of  mankind  demands,  while 
she  displays,  with  conscious  pride,  amid  the  false  glit- 
ter of  fashionable  society,  her  delicate  white  hands, 
which  are  of  themselves  conclusive  evidence  that  she 
is  neglecting  the  most  essential  duties  of  life,  cheat- 
ing herself  and  mankind  out  of  the  enjoyment  of 
true  happiness,  and  most  wickedly  sinning  against 
her  Creator. 

We  have  farmers'  daughters  engaged  in  the  culti- 
vation of  white  fingers,  while  their  mothers  are  over- 
tasking themselves  in  the  discharge  of  domestic  du- 
ties, and  we  have  merchants'  and  mechanics'  wives 
and  daughters  engaged  in  tattling  and  gossiping  and 
manufacturing  extensive  skirts  and  hoops,  while  their 
husbands  and  fathers,  are  spending  laborious  days, 
and  sleepless  nights,  in  order  to  get  a  sufficient 
amount  of  the  omnipotent  dollars*  to  support  them  in 
their  fashionable  extravagance.  How  can  man  be 
happy  while  he  is  laboring  under  the  perversion  or 
neglect  of  all  the  means  which  can  render  him  happy  ? 
Can  he  become  happy  by  defeating  the  designs  of 
23 


266  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

God,  and  perverting  all  his  proffered  blessings  ?  Let 
th«  groans  and  misery  of  mankind  answer.  Shame, 
that  such  a  state  of  society  should  exist,  that  the 
unmistakable  evidences  of  genuine  worth  and  useful- 
ness, of  true  virtue  and  morality,  of  the  faithful  dis- 
charge of  the  essential  duties  of  life,  should  be  consi- 
dered as  a  disgrace  to  those  who  possess  them,  while 
those  who  bear  upon  their  person  conclusive  evidence 
of  their  utter  worthlessness  and  sinful  idleness,  are 
the  only  persons  who  are  considered  worthy  of  the 
respect  and  estimation  of  persons  of  boasted  gentility. 
Hide  your  delicate  white  fingers,  you  guilty 
things,  and  blush  for  shame.  Cease  to  display  the 
evidence  of  your  own  worthlessness  with  an  air  of 
triumph,  before  men  of  sense.  Stand  aside,  ye  false 
creations  of  human  folly,  and  make  room  for  na- 
ture's noblemen;  for  true  ladies  and  gentlemen,  who 
bear  upon  their  person  the  indelible  impression  of 
virtue's  seal,  who  are  rejoicing  in  mental  vigor  and 
physical  strength  and  health,  and  although  they  may 
not  be  respectable  in  the  sight  of  vicious  fashion, 
yet  they  are  so  in  the  sight  of  God  and  truth.  But 
let  us  wait  and  work.  When  society  shall  be  con- 
structed upon  the  basis  of  true  virtue  and  morality, 
when  it  shall  no  longer  be  considered  degrading  to 
man  to  obey  the  will  of  his  Creator,  then  will  the 
worthless  gew-gaws  of  fashion  sink  in  the  depths 
of  their  real  contemptibleness,  and  the  honest  efforts 
of  mankind  be  diverted  from  sustaining  them  in 
their  wasteful  worthlessness,  and  be  directed,  not  to 
the  accumulation  of  unnecessary  wealth,  but  to  the 
pursuit  and  enjoyment  of  true  happiness.  Then 
man,  imitating  the  virtuous  bee,  shall  expel  the  use- 
less drones  from  the  human  hive.  It  is  a  discourag- 
ing fact,  which  conclusively  demonstrates  the  falseness 
of  the  present  constitution  of  society,  that  the  more 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  267 

refined  and  civilized  it  becomes,  the  more  disgraceful 
is  honest  labor  considered  to  be  to  man,  and  the 
more  respectable  he  becomes  by  extravagant  indo- 
lence and  worthlessness.  If  human  civilization  can 
not  be  carried  forward  without  carrying  with  it  such 
a  deadly  blight  to  human  virtue  and  happiness,  may 
God,  in  his  infinite  mercy,  check  its  further  progress. 

The  mode  of  dress  which  fashion  prescribes  is 
very  frequently  such  that  it  is  destructive  of  health 
and  comfort.  This  is  particularly  the  case  with 
ladies.  If  fashion  bid  them  dress  so  thinly  that 
it  does  not  protect  them  from  the  effects  of  the 
weather,  they  will  endure  present  suffering,  risk 
future  health,  and  even  dare  the  terrors  of  death 
rather  than  disobey  the  arbitrary  tyrant.  For  in- 
stance, on  the  occasion  of  an  evening  party,  delicate 
females,  entirely  uninured  to  exposure,  will  throw 
off  their  warmer  clothing  and  dress  themselves  with 
light,  insufficient  garments,  and  going  from  heated 
rooms  into  a  freezing  atmosphere,  they  very  fre- 
quently thus  plant  the  seeds  of  disease  in  the  sys- 
tem, which  sooner  or  later  ripen  into  suffering  and 
death.  If  fashion  prescribes  that  the  arms  shall  be 
left  naked  so  it  must  be,  although  the  arms,  being 
extremities,  are  the  more  liable  to  the  effects  of  the 
atmosphere  ;  if  fashion  says  the  proper  Avay  to  dress 
the  neck  and  shoulders,  is  not  to  dress  them  at  all, 
of  course  they  must  be  left  entirely  exposed,  although 
the  throat  and  lungs,  which  are  thus  left  unpro- 
tected, are  more  liable  to  dangerous  disease  than  any 
other  part  of  the  human  system ;  if  fashion  requires 
that  ladies  shall  wear  shoes  which  are  scarcely  more 
protection  than  so  much  brown  paper,  of  course 
every  fashionable  and  respectable  lady  must  wear 
them,  although  the  feet  require  to  be  most  carefully 


268  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

protected  against  the  effects  of  dampness  and  cold, 
and  their  exposure  13  a  most  prolific  source  of  suf- 
ering  and  death. 

Now,  in  regard  to  true  modesty,  what  more  impro- 
priety is  there  in  a  gentleman  appearing  half  naked 
than  a  lady.  Yet  a  lady  may  appear  in  society 
with  her  neck,  shoulders,  and  arms  entirely  exposed, 
and  she  will  be  admired  as  most  elegantly  and  ap- 
propriately dressed ;  but  if  a  gentleman  appear  in 
company  in  his  shirt  sleeves,  without  any  part  ex- 
posed except  his  face  and  hands,  he  will  be  de- 
nounced as  a  most  ill-behaved,  low-bred  wretch. 
Now,  these  proprieties  are  established  merely  by 
fashion,  and  are  not  founded  upon  any  principle  of 
true  morality  or  etiquette,  for  certainly  if  there  is 
any  impropriety  in  either  sex  appearing  thus  naked 
in  company,  it  is. woman. 

Alas!  is  woman  such  a  cringing  slave  to  this 
despot  that  she  must  obey  all  his  demands,  even  at 
the  sacrifice  of  her  health  and  life  ?  What  irresist- 
ible power  binds  her  to  her  fatal  servitude  ?  Is  she 
not  endowed  with  sufficient  rationality  and  moral 
courage  to  enable  her  to  disenthral  herself?  Can 
she  not  dress  herself  with  taste  and  elegance,  and  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  preserve  her  health  ? 

Modern  fashion  has  established  the  custom  of  com- 
pressing most  that  part  of  the  body  which  nature 
requires  should  be  left  most  free  and  untrammeled. 
That  part  of  the  body  which  contains  the  lungs,  the 
heart,  and  all  the  vital  energies  of  life,  is  frequently 
so  tightly  dressed  as  to  disturb  their  free  operation, 
and  disease,  in  some  of  its  most  fearful  forms,  is 
almost  sure  to  follow.  Perhaps  the  corset,  the 
means  by  which  ladies  have  so  long  been  committing 
unintentional  suicide,  is  not  so  much  used  now  as 
formerly,  but  still  the  breast  and  waist  are  too  much 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  269 

compressed,  and  ladies  still  pride  themselves  upon 
their  slender  waists,  which  can  only  be  regarded 
with  a  shudder  by  those  who  understand  the  human 
organism.  The  effects  of  this  mode  of  dressing  may 
not  be  immediately  manifested,  and  they  are  scarcely 
ever  traced  to  their  true  cause,  but  the  most  vital 
laws  of  human  nature  are  thus  grossly  violated,  and 
the  consequent  penalties  are  inevitable.  The  viola- 
tion of  these  laws  is  punished  in  various  ways. 
Perhaps  the  disease  assumes  some  malignant  form, 
and  death  soon  takes  place;  but  more  frequently 
such  dressing  prevents  the  full  development  of  the 
physical  organism,  and  the  offender  becomes  deli- 
cate, and  liable  to  disease,  and  frequently  goes  into 
a  languishing  decline,  until  death  mercifully  ends 
the  scene  of  anguish  and  suffering. 

What  can  thus  urge  woman  on  in  her  reckless 
course  of  self-murder?  Surely  unfettered  reason 
should  teach  her  the  absurd  criminality  of  sacrificing 
health  and  life,  with  all  their  endearments,  to  such 
delusive  phantasms  as  the  follies  of  fashion.  And 
yet  it  can  not  result  from  her  instinct ;  for  if  you 
were  thus  to  compress  the  vital  parts  of  an  instinct- 
ive brute,  and  encumber  it  with  supernumerary  skirts, 
hoops,  and  flounces,  it  would  tear  them  off  with  dis- 
gust, and  let  the  laws  of  its  nature  operate  freely. 
No :  mere  instinct  can  never  accomplish  such  guilt ; 
it  requires  the  higher  powers  of  perverted  rationality. 
To  this  cause,  together  with  the  want  of  proper  ex- 
ercise, must  be  attributed,  in  a  great  measure,  the 
present  physically-degenerated  condition  of  fashion- 
able ladies. 

If  we  compare  the  present  state  of  the  human 
race  with  the  condition  of  its  primitive  generations, 
before  human  folly  and  vice  had  made  such  havoc 
upon  human  happiness,  it  will  cause  every  lover  of 


270          MODERN"  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

his  race  to  blush  with  shame  and  sorrow.     Let  us 
look  for  reliable  authority  upon  this  subject. 

"  I  hold,"  says  Horace  Mann,  "  it  to  be  morally 
impossible  for  God  to  have  created,  in  the  beginning, 
such  men  and  women  as  we  find  the  human  race,  in 
their  physical  condition,  now  to  be.  Examine  the 
book  of  Genesis,  which  contains  the  earliest  annals 
of  the  human  family.  As  is  commonly  supposed, 
it  comprises  the  first  twenty-three  hundred  and 
sixty-nine  years  of  human  history.  With  childlike 
simplicity,  this  book  describes  the  infancy  of  man- 
kind. Unlike  modern  histories,  it  details  the  mi- 
nutest circumstances  of  social  and  individual  life. 
Indeed,  it  is  rather  a  series  of  biographies  than  a 
history.  The  false  delicacy  of  modern  times  did 
not  forbid  the  mention  of  whatever  was  done  or 
suffered,  and  yet  over  all  that  expanse  of  time — 
for  more  than  one-third  part  of  the  duration  of  the 
human  race — not  a  single  instance  is  recorded  of  a 
child  born  blind,  or  deaf,  or  dumb,  or  idiotic,  or  mal- 
formed in  any  way  !  During  the  whole  period  not 
a  single  case  of  a  natural  death  in  infancy,  or  child- 
hood, or  early  manhood,  or  even  of  middle  manhood, 
is  found.  Not  one  man  or  woman  died  of  disease. 
The  simple  record  is,  'and  he  died,'  or  he  died  'in 
good  old  age,  and  full  of  years,'  or,  he  was  'old  and 
full  of  days.'  No  epidemic,  nor  even  epidemic  dis- 
ease prevailed,  showing  that  they  died  the  natural 
death  of  healthy  men,  and  not  the  unnatural  death 
of  distempered  ones.  Through  all  this  time  (except 
in  the  single  case  of  Jacob,  in  his  old  age,  and  then 
only  for  a  day  or  two  before  his  death)  it  does  not 
appear  that  any  man  was  ill,  or  that  any  old  lady, 
or  young  lady,  ever  fainted.  Bodily  pain  from  dis- 
ease is  no  where  mentioned.  No  cholera  infantum, 
scarlatina,  measels,  small-pox,  not  even  a  toothache. 


FOLLIES  OP    FASHION.  271 

So  extraordinary  a  thing  was  it  for  a  son  to  die 
before  his  father,  that  an  instance  of  it  is  deemed 
worthy  of  special  notice ;  and  this  first  case  of  the 
reversal  of  nature's  law  was  two  thousand  years 
after  the  creation  of  Adam.  See  how  this  reversal 
of  nature's  law  has,  for  us,  become  the  law :  for  how 
rare  is  it  now  for  all  the  children  of  a  family  to 
survive  the  parents?  Rachel  died  at  the  birth  of 
Benjamin ;  but  this  is  the  only  case  of  puerperal 
death  mentioned  in  the  first  twenty-four  hundred 
years  of  sacred  history,  and  even  this  happened 
during  the  fatigues  of  a  patriarchal  journey,  when 
passengers  were  not  wafted  along  in  the  saloons 
of  railcar  or  steamboat." 

Let  us  now  present  a  few  facts  and  reflections 
founded  upon  the  Massachusetts  Registration  Report 
for  1855.  After  noticing  that  the  deaths  which  result 
from  other  diseases  are  very  nearly  equally  divided 
between  the  sexes,  it  is  said :  "  Referring  now  to  con- 
sumption, we  might  expect  to  find  a  similar  state  of 
things ;  but  no,  it  is  strangely  and  sadly  different. 
Excluding  the  deaths  below  10  and  over  60,  for  rea- 
sons suggested  in  the  report,  viz.,  that  wasting  and 
decay,  arising  from  old  age  or  constitutional  weak- 
ness, were  often  erroneously  returned  under  the  head 
of  consumption;  and  excluding  also  the  deaths  be- 
tween 40  and  60,  when  there  is  nearly  an  equality, 
and  when  any  special  causes  would  probably  have 
already  produced  their  effects,  we  obtain  this  remark- 
able result :  Total  deaths  from  consumption  between 
the  ages  of  10  and  40,  2,590;  of  these  but  966,  or  37 
per  cent.,  are  of  men ;  while  1,624,  or  nearly  63  per 
cent.,  are  of  women.  Between  10  and  30  the  differ- 
ence is  still  greater.  During  this  period  the  deaths 
of  females  are  1,123  out  of  1,735,  i.  e.,  nearly  65 


272  MODERN  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

per  cent. ;  10  to  20  is  still  worse — very  nearly  67  per 
cent. 

"  So  that  we  shall  not  be  far  from  the  truth  in  say- 
ing, that  of  the  deaths  from  consumption  between  the 
ages  of  10  and  25,  those  of  females  are  to  those  of 
males  as  2  to  1. 

"  Here  evidently  is  indicated,  in  language  too  plain 
to  be  misunderstood,  the  existence  of  some  special 
cause  producing  consumption  among  females  out  of 
all  reasonable  proportion,  and  which  does  not  act  in 
the  case  of  fevers  and  of  many  other  diseases.  It 
may  be  said  that  woman's  more  delicate  organization 
renders  her  more  susceptible  to  the  attacks  of  dis- 
ease; but  if  her  organization  is  sensitive  and  deli- 
cate, it  is  also  endowed  with  great  powers  of  endur- 
ance. Besides,  the  same  thing  might  be  said  in 
regard  to  typhus  fever;  but  statistics  disprove  the 
hypothesis;  and,  moreover,  men,  from  their  occu- 
pations, are  much  more  exposed  to  the  danger  of 
consumption  than  women  are,  at  least  by  any  neces- 
sity. But  it  is  illogical  to  seek  in  the  dark  distance 
for  causes,  when  all-sufficient  ones  lie  open  before  our 
eyes.  Look  at  the  dress  of  woman." 

Yes,  look  at  the  dress  of  woman1.  Wearing  her 
dress  for  the  purpose  of  fashionable  display,  instead 
of  so  adapting  it  as  to  secure  her  health  and  com- 
fort; exposing  most  those  parts  of  the  body  which 
require  most  protection,  dressing  tightest  those  parts 
which  it  is  most  dangerous  to  compress,  wearing 
shoes  that  the  stoutest  man  would  catch  cold  through 
in  walking  one  square ;  and,  thus  dressed,  she  fre- 
quently passes  from  a  heated  room  into  a  freezing 
atmosphere.  No  wonder  the  figures  give  us  such 
startling  facts.  But  let  us  look  again  at  the  statis- 
tics. Between  the  ages  of  40  and  60,  and  also  above 


FOLLIES   OF  FASHION.  273 

60,  when  ladies  are  not  so  fashionable  in  their  mode 
of  dress,  the  deaths  are  nearly  equally  divided  be- 
tween the  sexes;  but  between  the  ages  of  10  and  25, 
when  ladies  are  most  subjected  to  the  deadly  conse- 
quences of  fashionable  dressing,  the  deaths  of  females 
are  to  those  of  males  as  2  to  1.  Why  need  we  seek 
farther  to  learn  why  it  is  that  our  American  women 
are  so  frail  and  delicate,  and  die  so  early?  Fashion 
forbids  them  to  take  that  virtuous  exercise  which 
alone  can  give  them  a  healthy  and  vigorous  physical 
development,  and  bids  them  dress  in  a  manner  which 
must  inevitably,  sooner  or  later,  induce  disease  and 
suffering.  How  cruel  is  their  fate  !  Enslaved  by  u 
tyrant  who  demands  their  health  and  life  as  the  con- 
sequence of  their  servitude,  yet  they  yield  him  a 
willing  and  scrupulous  obedience.  When  will  she 
have  the  moral  courage  to  defy  the  power  of  this 
tyrant,  and,  by  obeying  the  will  of  her  Creator,  be- 
come a  woman,  healthy,  vigorous  and  beautiful,  in- 
stead of  the  frail,  consumptive,  suffering,  useless,  and 
extravagant  slave  of  fashion  that  she  now  is?  The 
small  waist  is  the  beauty  of  a  wasp,  and  not  of  a 
woman. 

But  why  this  great  change  in  the  physical  con- 
dition of  man  since  the  Old  Testament  ages  ?  Is  the 
work  of  God  so  imperfect  that  man,  as  he  labors 
under  the  accumulation  of  ages,  is  necessarily  de- 
prived of  the  health  and  vigor  which  were  enjoyed 
by  the  progenitors  of  his  race  ?  No.  The  languish- 
ing and  indolent  votary  of  fashion,  as  he  reclines  in 
feebleness  and  physical  degeneracy  in  the  halls  of 
luxury  and  wealth,  the  delicate  belle,  who  has  barely 
strength  enough  to  read  the  last  novel,  or  to  dance 
all  night,  but  not  half  enough  to  lift  a  smoothing  iron, 
and  all  the  respectable  portion  of  community  who 


274  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

belong  to  our  best  society,  who  spend  much  and  earn 
nothing,  who  have  the  good  taste  and  independence 
to  wear  their  clothes  as  the  folks  do  in  Paris,  and 
who,  as  a  general  thing,  have  about  as  much  strength 
as  so  many  well-fed  cats ;  all  this  worthless  human, 
luggage,  which  so  overloads  and  impedes  the  advance- 
ment of  true  happiness,  but  for  human  follies  and 
vices,  might  have  been  this  day  as  vigorous,  healthy, 
and  happy  as  the  patriarchs  of  old. 

The  human  race  has,  doubtless, made  much  progress; 
we  possess  many  facilities  for  the  attainment  of  hap- 
piness and  the  enjoyment  of  life  which  were  unknown 
to  our  forefathers ;  but  it  really  seems  that  our  phy- 
sical degeneracy  has  just  about  kept  pace  with  our 
material  progress.  Excessive  refinement  invariably 
destroys  the  essential  requisites  of  true  happiness. 
The  spirit  of  the  age  is  that  of  fashionable  refinement, 
and  we  have  refined  and  accomplished  ourselves  until 
among  the  professionally  refined  and  accomplished, 
all  the  noblest  virtues  are  refined  away,  and  the  per- 
son of  refinement  and  accomplishment  is  too  fre- 
quently nothing  but  a  strutting  fop,  so  utterly  worth- 
less, that  could  he  not  depend  upon  others  more  vir- 
tuous than  himself  for  the  means  of  subsistence,  he 
would  certainly  starve  to  death.  The  proper  refine- 
ment of  manners  is  certainly  a  virtue,  but  the  excess 
of  every  virtue  is  vice.  If  refinement  is  to  be  pur- 
chased at  the  expense  of  the  noblest  attributes  of  our 
nature,  and  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  means  of  attaining 
true  happiness ;  if,  in  order  to  become  refined  and 
accomplished,  it  is  necessary  to  incur  disease  and  suf- 
fering in  thoir  most  hideous  shapes,  we  oppose  them 
as  the  worst  enemies  of  the  human  race.  If  we 
can  not  have  the  virtuous  refinement  of  real  worth 
and  usefulness,  let  us  have  none  at  all.  Give  us  th« 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  275 

uncouth  but  virtuous  and  useful  member  of  society, 
rather  than  the  refined  and  accomplished  but  worth- 
less and  vicious  idler. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  the  disease  and 
misery  which  man  suffers,  are  entirely  in  conse- 
quence of  his  own  vices  and  follies,  and  these  vices 
and  follies  consist  in  the  absurd  violation  of  the  laws 
which  his  Creator  has  established  for  his  government. 
It  has  also  been  shown  that  the  physical  degeneracy 
of  woman  was  attributable  almost  entirely  to  the 
want  of  proper  physical  exercise,  which  fashion  pre- 
vents, and  to  the  effects  of  improper  dressing,  which 
fashion  demands.  It  will  now  be  shown  that  these 
evils  can  not  be  confined  to  the  female  sex,  but  that 
their  effects  are  extended  to  both  sexes.  But  it  is 
not  pretended  that  the  physical  degeneracy  of  man 
is  entirely  attributable  to  the  fashionable  follies  and 
vices  of  woman,  for  he  is  guilty  of  many  gross  vices 
and  follies  which  prey  upon  physical  health  and  vigor; 
but  which  are  not  endorsed  by  fashion,  and,  there- 
fore, can  not  be  considered  in  this  essay.  But 
woman,  at  least  the  respectable  portion  of  the  female 
sex,  is  not  submitted  to  the  temptation  of  these 
grosser  vices.  When  once  she  yields  to  these,  she 
is  generally  lost  for  ever,  and  hence  it  is  one  of  the 
most  beneficent  arrangements  of  society  that  she  is 
almost  entirely  removed  from  their  influence.  But 
for  this  very  reason  she  submits  herself  more  unre- 
servedly to  the  fashionable  follies  and  vices,  or  those 
in  which  society  permits  her  to  indulge,  and  hence 
they  have  shed  their  most  baleful  influence  upon  her, 
and  this  accounts  for  the  obvious  fact,  that  the  women 
of  the  present  day  have  reached  a  lower  state  of  com- 
parative physical  degeneracy  than  the  men. 

Now,  placing  ourselves  upon  the  established  prin- 
ciple of  the  hereditary  transmission  of  qualities,  from 


276  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

the  parent  to  the  child,  it  will  be  readily  perceived 
that  the  physical  enervation  of  the  parent  is  trans- 
mitted to  the  child,  and  thus  the  evils  of  fashion 
which  directly  affect  woman,  are  indirectly  transmit- 
ted to  the  male  as  well  as  the  female  portion  of  the 
community.  Thus  children  are  born  with  enfeebled 
constitutions,  which,  instead  of  possessing  the  glow 
and  vigor  of  a  healthy  organism,  contain  the  seeds 
of  incipient  disease,  which  being  fostered  by  further 
fashionable  vices,  too  frequently  ripen  into  premature 
suffering  and  death.  It  is  an  established  law  of 
nature  that  parents  of  feeble  constitution  give  birth 
to  unhealthy  offspring,  and  then  their  untimely  suf- 
fering is  charged  to  the  unscrutable  providence  of 
God,  when  it  results  entirely  from  the  sin  of  the 
parents,  and  the  children  are  thus  suffering  the  pen- 
alties of  natural  laws  which  their  parents  have  viola- 
ted, God  thus  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  parents 
upon  the  children,  unto  the  third  and  fourth  genera- 
tion of  them  that  hate  him.  What  an  impressive 
lesson  it  should  be  to  the  fashionable  mother,  as,  with 
a  heart  bursting  with  grief,  she  leans  over  the  death- 
bed of  her  suffering  child,  as  in  mortal  agonies  it 
groans  and  writhes  in  the  clutches  of  death,  and 
even  yet,  while  the  bloom  of  youth  is  upon  its  lovely 
form,  it  sinks  to  its  untimely  grave;  and,  perhaps, 
all  this  has  resulted  from  an  enfeebled  constitution 
inherited  from  her,  in  consequence  of  fashionable 
follies  and  vices. 

In  society,  as  it  is  at  present  constituted,  woman 
is  placed  in  a  state  of  dependence  which  fetters 
many  of  her  noblest  attributes,  and  thus  prevents 
her  from  attaining  her  proper  sphere  of  action,  and 
by  this  means  many  of  her  best  qualities  for  useful- 
ness are  rendered  ineffectual,  and  she  is  thus  pre- 
vented from  contributing  her  proper  share  to  the 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  277 

common  stock  of  human  happiness.  It  has  been 
previously  shown  that  she  is  inferior  to  man  in  those 
qualities  of  mind  and  body  which  relate  to  the  suc- 
cessful discharge  of  the  sterner  duties  of  life,  but 
yet  she  possesses  many  natural  qualities  in  a  much 
stronger  degree  than  him,  and  for  this  very  reason 
nature  and  human  happiness  require  that  these  pre- 
dominant qualities  should  be  allowed  to  operate  in 
an  entirely  unfettered  and  independent  manner. 
But  so  long  as  woman  is  in  such  a  great  measure 
dependent  upon  man  for  all  the  comforts  and  neces- 
saries of  life,  the  strong  tendency  is  either  to  reduce 
her  to  a  useless  toy,  as  is  the  case  in  fashionable 
life,  or  to  render  her  a  mere  drudge,  as  is  too  fre- 
quently the  case  in  life's  humbler  walks,  either  of 
which  removes  her  from  her  proper  sphere  of  action, 
and  defeats  the  scheme  of  human  happiness. 

It  is  not  the  right  of  woman  to  exercise  political 
franchises,  because  she  is  not  qualified  for  it  by 
nature ;  neither  is  it  her  right  or  duty  to  enter  upon 
the  more  rugged  occupations  of  life  ;  but  it  is  her 
right  that  the  faithful  discharge  of  her  legitimate 
duties  should  at  all  times  secure  complete  independ- 
ence, subject  only  to  the  legal  consequences  of  her 
own  acts.  Hence,  any  state  of  society  in  which  the 
honest  efforts  of  woman  do  not  secure  for  her  re- 
muneration in  exact  proportion  to  the  real  value  of 
the  services  rendered,  is  false  to  nature  and  to  jus- 
tice. Man  has  no  just  right  to  obtain  more  for  his 
labor  than  woman  does  for  hers,  when  the  real  service 
performed  is  of  equal  intrinsic  value  to  mankind. 

The  employments  of  woman  and  the  profits  of  her 
labor  are  confined  by  custom,  and  not  by  nature. 
Although  nature  has  not  devolved  the  same  duties 
upon  man  and  woman,  yet  her  duties  are  sufficiently 
extended  if  she  would  only  faithfully  discharge  those. 


278  MODERN    FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

for  •which  she  is  qualified  by  nature,  yet  some  of 
the  dreaming  reformers  of  the  age  are  demanding 
additional  rights  for  her,  for  which  she  is  not  qualified 
by  nature,  while  she  is  neglecting  those  which  come 
•within  her  legitimate  sphere.  It  is  the  right  and 
duty  of  woman  to  do  whatever  she  is  qualified  by 
her  natural  endowments  to  do,  and  not  to  ask 
whether  this  or  that  virtuous  occupation  is  indorsed 
by  custom,  or  respectable  in  the  sight  of  man ;  if  she 
has  natural  capacities  for  its  successful  practice  she 
may  be  sure  that  her  efforts  will  be  respectable  in 
the  sight  of  God.  Surely,  were  she  to  act  upon 
these  principles  of  fundamental  virtue,  her  sphere 
of  action  would  be  sufficiently  enlarged,  and  her 
labor  would  be  sufficiently  remunerative  to  secure 
her  independence. 

But  the  present  system  of  education  contributes, 
in  a  powerful  manner,  to  fix  the  fetters  of  depend- 
ence upon  woman.  As  the  duties  which  she  is  re- 
quired to  discharge  through  life  are  radically  different 
from  those  which  are  devolved  upon  man,  so  is  the 
system  of  education,  which  will  best  qualify  her  for 
the  successful  discharge  of  those  duties,  radically  dif- 
ferent from  that  system  which  furnishes  to  man  the 
most  reliable  assistance  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties. 
While  man  and  woman  are  so  fundamentally  different 
in  their  natures,  and  the  peculiar  duties  which  are 
required  of  each  are  so  different,  how  can  it  be 
expected  that  the  same  system  of  instruction  can  be 
equally  well  adapted  to  both  ?  True,  the  course  of 
study  is  slightly  varied,  but  this  variation  generally 
consists  in  some  superficial  accomplishment,  which 
answers  no  other  purpose  than  that  of  making  her 
a  useless  ornament,  instead  of  a  true  woman.  It  is 
well  enough  to  devote  a  portion  of  female  study  to  su- 
perficial accomplishments,  but,  whenever  this  is  made 


FOLLIES  OF  FASHION.  279 

the  chief  object  of  female  education,  the  rock  is  under- 
mined upon  which  the  very  nature  of  true  woman- 
hood is  founded.  An  other  defect  in  the  system  is, 
that  the  young  ladies  who  are  said  to  have  received 
a  good  education,  are  educated  as  though  they  were 
intended  for  professors  of  the  dead  languages,  or  the 
abstract  sciences,  instead  of  wives  and  mothers. 
Again,  we  say  that  it  is  well  enough  to  devote  a 
portion  of  female  study  to  these  sciences,  but  it  will 
not  do  to  make  them  the  chief  object  of  female  edu- 
cation. 

Woman  should  be  well  educated,  but  can  she  be 
said  to  be  well  educated  when  the  course  of  instruc- 
tion which  she  receives  only  disqualifies  her  for  the 
discharge  of  her  duties?  The  chief  object  of  fe- 
male education  should  be  to  teach  her  a  correct 
knowledge  of  herself,  and  of  the  peculiar  duties 
which  she  alone  can  perform,  and  of  the  conditions 
of  her  own  happiness  and  existence.  What  does 
the  young  lady,  when  she  receives  her  diploma  at 
the  fashionable  boarding-school  know  of  herself,  or 
of  those  essential  duties  which  the  scheme  of  nature 
inexorably  demands  at  her  hands  ?  What  does  she 
know  of  those  laws  of  nature  by  which  she  will  be 
required  to  shape  the  mental,  moral  and  physical 
destinies  of  the  next  succeeding  generation  of  man? 
Absolutely  nothing.  To  place  a  young  lady  at  one 
of  our  fashionable  female  seminaries  is  a  most  unfor- 
tunate way  to  form  a  true  woman.  True,  she  may 
become  scientific  and  accomplished,  as  a  scholar,  but 
the  tendency  is  to  render  her  worthless  as  a  woman. 
The  teachers  fail  to  impress  upon  their  students 
that  the  proper  sphere  of  woman's  action  is  not  in 
the  domain  of  cold,  abstract  science  and  learning, 
but  in  the  kingdom  of  warm  love  and  affection,  and 
in  the  faithful  discharge  of  those  duties  which  God 


280  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

has  devolved  upon   her,  and  which  she   alone   can 
perform. 

Consequently  the  idea  becomes  fixed  in  the  mind, 
that  an  empty  smattering  of  learning,  and  a  full 
stock  of  vain  and  non-essential  accomplishments  are 
indispensable  to  those  who  are  to  figure  in  the  higher 
circles  of  society,  while  they  also  receive  and  act 
upon  the  impression  that  the  faithful  discharge  of 
life's  most  essential  duties  is  degrading  to  a  lady 
of  refinement  and  education.  Thus  it  is  that  those 
useless  female  votaries  of  fashion  are  formed,  who 
have  no  firmer  basis  upon  which  to  found  their 
spurious  claims  to  superior  dignity  and  respecta- 
bility than  their  own  follies  and  vices,  and  who  act 
no  nobler  part  in  the  grand  moving  scheme  of  na- 
ture than  that  of  attempting  to  kill  time  which  drags 
so  heavily  upon  their  hands,  for  the  want  of  useful 
occupation,  by  engaging  in  novel  reading,  extrava- 
gant dressing,  useless  needle-work,  and  fashionable 
gossip-talking.  If  woman  can  not  be  educated  and 
yet  retain  all  those  sterling  qualities  with  which 
her  Creator  has  endowed  her,  and  remain  true  to 
nature,  by  the  faithful  discharge  of  the  duties  which 
human  happiness  requires  of  her,  let  female  educa- 
tion be  swept  away  a  withering  curse.  But  nothing 
is  more  essential  to  human  happiness  than  a  pro- 
per system  of  female  education.  She  can  never 
otherwise  attain  her  true  state  of  being,  nor  ex- 
ert over  man  the  reclaiming  and  ennobling  influ- 
ence of  her  true  nature.  The  cause  of  humanity 
never  can  otherwise  be  permanently  advanced,  nor 
man  rescued  from  the  deluge  of  disease,  suffering, 
and  misery  which  is  now  flooding  the  world.  When 
shall  it  be  ?  When  society,  and  woman  especially, 
shall  be  freed  from  the  fetters  of  false  customs,  and 


FOLLIES  OF   FASHION.  281 

shall  earnestly  seek  to  know  herself,  her  duties,  and 
to  do  them. 

After  what  has  been  advanced  in  the  preceding 
pages,  it  is  certainly  useless  to  enter  into  an  argu- 
ment to  demonstrate  the  utter  incompatibility  of 
modern  fashion  and  true  religion.  They  are  an- 
tagonistic in  every  particular.  Hence,  it  is  impos- 
sible that  the  spirit  of  both  can  exist  in  the  mind 
at  the  same  time.  Just  in  the  proportion  that  the 
one  takes  possession  of  the  mind,  the  other  is  ex- 
pelled from  it.  Yet  it  is  an  undeniable  fact  that 
those  persons  who  make  the  highest  pretensions  and 
loudest  professions  of  religion,  are  generally  the  very 
ones  who  carry  the  fashionable  follies  and  vices  of 
the  day  to  the  greatest  excess.  Notwithstanding, 
the  Christian  religion  is  preeminent  above  all  others, 
for  the  plainness  and  simplicity  which  it  enjoins  upon 
its  professors,  yet  many  of  them  seem  to  think  they 
are  not  prepared  to  attend  the  public  worship  of 
their  meek  and  lowly  Savior,  unless  they  are  arrayed 
in  all  glittering  flippery,  and  gaudy  folly  of  modern 
fashion.  They  can  not  discover  any  inconsistency 
in  professing  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  acting  directly  contrary  to  those  doctrines.  Chris- 
tian ;  pause  and  examine  the  old  landmarks  of  your 
religion,  and  see  if  you  are  not,  in  this  particular, 
departing  very  far  from  the  straight  and  narrow 
way.  We  shall  urge  no  farther.  May  the  day  soon 
come  when  man  shall  be  disenthralled  from  the 
fetters  of  fashionable  servitude,  and  act  under  the 
guidance  of  his  own  properly-developed  and  unper- 
verted  rationality. 

24 


ESSAY   V. 

• 

. 

RELIGIOUS    FANCIES    AND    FOLLIES. 

THE  natural  endowments  of  man  constitute  him  a 
religious  being.  The  Creator  has  implanted  the 
sentiment  of  veneration  in  the  mind  of  man,  and  it 
is  as  unquestionably  an  inherent  quality  of  human 
nature  as  any  other  faculty  of  the  mind.  It  is  the 
cardinal  distinctive  faculty  which  elevates  man  above 
the  brute  creation,  and  points  him  beyond  the  scenes 
of  sublunary  darkness  for  the  consummation  of  the 
most  perfect  sphere  of  happiness,  and  but  for  thus 
sentiment  his  progressive  amelioration  would  be  utterly 
impracticable,  and  he  would  become  a  groveling  ani- 
mal, whose  higher  endowments  would  only  more 
forcibly  urge  him  to  seek  the  debasing  gratification 
of  his  sensual  propensities.  Deprived  of  this  senti- 
ment, what  principle  of  his  nature,  what  combination 
of  faculties  could  direct  his  aim  to  a  higher  destiny. 
Unaided  by  this  divine  sentiment,  cold  and  selfish 
reason,  by  its  most  giant  strides,  could  arrive  at  no 
conclusion,  or  establish  no  principle,  which  could 
direct  its  aim  to  a  glorious  immortality;  but  man, 
floundering  helplessly  upon  the  dark  ocean  of  incom- 
prehensible principles,  without  a  compass  to  guide 
him  upon  his  way,  would  inevitably  become  stranded, 
and  his  happiness,  as  a  moral  being,  totally  destroyed 
by  the  desolating  waves  of  unmitigated  skepticism. 

As  the  powerful  steam-engine,  when  properly  con- 
(282) 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES    AND  FOLLIES.        283 

trolled  by  man,  becomes  a  submissive  instrument 
which  promotes  his  welfare  and  enjoyment,  but  if 
its  mighty  energies  are  loosened  from  his  control,  its 
great  power  only  renders  his  suffering  and  destruction 
more  speedy  and  inevitable,  thus  verifying  the  uni- 
versal fact,  that  the  more  power  a  principle  possesses 
for  the  accomplishment  of  good  when  properly  di- 
rected, it  also  possesses  the  more  power  for  the 
accomplishment  of  evil  when  perverted  or  misdirect- 
ed. So  the  power  of  reason,  when  directed  and  con- 
trolled by  the  principle  of  veneration,  which  is  the 
germ  of  religious  sentiment,  becomes  the  means  by 
which  man  attains  the  highest  state  of  virtue  and 
happiness ;  but  when  it  ceases  to  be  guided  by  un- 
perverted  veneration,  its  powerful  energies  only  the 
more  speedily  undermine  the  foundations  of  morality 
and  religion,  and  produce  the  greatest  evils  which 
humanity  can  endure.  Reason,  deprived  of  venera- 
tion, could  have  no  power  of  comprehending  the  idea 
of  an  overruling  Providence,  and,  therefore,  the  idea 
of  a  Supreme  Being  would  be  discarded  from  the 
thoughts  of  man,  and  he  would  thus  lose  the  re- 
claiming and  elevating  influences  of  religious  faith, 
and  the  universal  creed  of  man  must  become  that 
of  atheism. 

But  the  past  and  present  history  of  man  justifies 
the  assertion,  that  such  can  never  be  the  condition 
of  the  human  race,  and  hence  it  results,  that  there  is 
an  inborn  sentiment  implanted  in  the  mind  of  man, 
which  causes  him  to  believe  that  there  is  an  over- 
ruling power  which  dispenses  and  controls  human 
affairs.  That  this  belief  is  innate  in  the  human  mind, 
and  not  the  result  of  reason  and  reflection,  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  we  find  it  existing  among  tribes  of 
men  who  are  totally  incapable  of  serious  reflection, 
and  are  scarcely  more  controlled  by  the  dictates  of 


284  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

reason  than  are  the  tribes  of  the  brute  creation. 
The  universal  man  is  endowed  with  the  same  faculties 
and  powers  of  mind  and  body,  in  every  condition  of 
human  existence;  but  these  faculties  and  powers  ex- 
ist in  different  degrees  of  strength,  in  different  nations 
of  people,  and  in  different  individuals  of  the  same 
nation.  The  ignorant  savage  and  the  enlightened 
statesman,  are  each  endowed  with  the  same  faculties 
and  sentiments,  but  they  exist  in  different  degrees 
of  strength  and  development.  No  tribe  of  the  human 
race  is  so  degraded,  or  the  higher  faculties  so  oblit- 
erated by  excessive  indulgence  in  sensual  gratifica- 
tions, that  all  the  faculties  and  sentiments  of  human 
nature  are  not  yet  existing  in  the  mind,  and  may  be 
brought  into  action  by  the  proper  course  of  cultiva- 
tion. It  will  require  more  than  one  generation  to 
transform  a  tribe  of  savages  into  an  enlightened  na- 
tion, but  this  transformation  may  be  effected  without 
the  aid  of  any  other  agency  than  the  proper  cultiva- 
tion of  the  inherent  faculties  of  the  human  mind. 
Hence  the  only  reason  why  one  portion  of  mankind 
is  civilized,  and  an  other  portion  savage  is,  because, 
in  the  civilized  portion,  the  higher  faculties  of  the 
human  mind  are  more  or  less  cultivated,  according  to 
the  state  of  civilization,  while  in  the  savage  portion, 
those  faculties  are  allowed  to  lie  dormant,  and  the 
lower  propensities  of  man  are  brought  into  active 
exercise,  and,  consequently,  control  his  conduct. 

Now,  as  the  sentiment  of  veneration  is  an  inherent 
faculty  of  the  human  mind,  and  as  all  men  are  en- 
dowed with  the  same  mental  faculties  only  differing 
in  degree  of  strength  and  activity,  and  as  the  legiti- 
mate result  of  this  faculty  is  the  belief  in,  and  adora- 
tion of  an  overruling  power,  which  controls  the 
affairs  of  man,  it  follows,  that  he  is  naturally  a  reli- 
gious being.  But,  according  to  the  above  principles, 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES.         285 

this  faculty  may  become  so  obscured  by  irreligious 
practices,  that  it  will  lie  entirely  inactive  and  dormant 
in  the  mind,  but  can  not  be  entirely  eradicated  from 
it,  and  hence  the  fact,  frequently  noticed  by  travelers 
and  historians,  that  there  are  tribes  of  men  among 
whom  can  not  be  detected  the  slightest  indications 
of  religious  sentiments.  Therefore  this  fact  is  per- 
fectly reconcilable  with  the  proposition  that  religion 
is  a  natural  sentiment,  implanted  in  the  human  mind 
by  the  hand  of  God,  and  therefore  pervades  univer- 
sal humanity.  And  hence,  the  assertion  of  certain 
Christian  authors  is  not  true,  that  all  the  religious 
sentiments  of  mankind,  in  whatever  shape  they  have 
manifested  themselves,  were  derived  either  directly  or 
indirectl}',  from  the  revelations  of  the  Bible.  The  va- 
rious religions  which  have  existed  in  the  world,  were 
not  derived,  even  remotely,  from  the  word  of  God  as 
revealed  in  the  Bible,  but  they  have  resulted  from  the 
work  of  God  as  displayed  in  the  constitution  of 
human  nature. 

Veneration  is  the  controlling  faculty  of  man's 
moral  sentiments,  and  as  the  condition  of  humanity 
can  not  be  ameliorated  except  by  the  proper  devel- 
opment of  the  moral  sentiments,  it  follows  that  it  is 
of  the  utmost  importance  to  mankind,  that  this  fac- 
ulty should  be  cultivated  and  developed  by  the  exer- 
cise of  the  purest  sentiments  of  religion.  It  is  the 
balance-wheel  of  the  properly  developed  mind,  which 
not  only  regulates  the  motion  of  the  human  machine 
in  this  world,  but  according  to  all  the  multiform  sys- 
tems of  theology,  it  is  the  only  guide  which  can 
safely  conduct  us  into  the  realms  of  happiness  in  a 
future  world.  Hence  it  is  obvious  that  there  is  no  in- 
fluence brought  to  bear  upon  human  conduct  which 
so  effectually  shapes  the  destinies  of  man  in  time 
and  in  eternity,  as  the  influence  of  his  religious  sen- 


286  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

timents.  But  although  religion  is  of  such  vital  im- 
portance to  man,  and  veneration,  when  properly  di- 
rected, conduces  more  than  any  other  sentiment  to  his 
moral  health  and  happiness,  yet  there  is  no  source 
•which  has  been  so  prolific  of  folly,  fanaticism  and  ab- 
surdity, which  has  caused  such  revolting  scenes  of 
cruelty,  bloodshed  and  outrage,  as  the  perversion  of 
this  sentiment,  thus  again  demonstrating  the  fact, 
that  the  nobler  the  attribute  of  human  nature,  the 
greater  the  evils  which  result  from  its  perversion. 
Thus,  that  sentiment  of  the  human  mind,  which, 
when  properly  developed,  causes  man  to  appear  al- 
most angelic ;  transforms  him  into  a  very  hell-fiend 
when  perverted.  When  acting  under  its  unperverted 
guidance,  man  is  kind,  humble,  moral,  and  truly  re- 
ligious ;  when  acting  under  its  perversion,  no  act  too 
cruel,  no  torture  too  excruciating,  no  murder  or  mar- 
tyrdom too  bloody. 

Thus  it  is  that  religion  itself  has  so  frequently 
produced  the  worst  evils  which  it  is  designed  to  pre- 
vent. It  is  a  very  easy  transition  from  the  proper 
use  to  the  abuse  of  any  sentiment  of  the  human 
mind.  And  there  is  a  peculiarity  attending  the  per- 
version of  the  sentiment  of  veneration  which  belongs 
to  no  other.  It  is  but  a  step  from  religion  to  fanat- 
icism, and  the  votary,  instead  of  being  conscious  that 
he  is  running  into  viciousness,  sincerely  believes  that 
he  is  becoming  more  religious.  In  most  other  vices, 
man,  as  he  passes  from  virtue  into  vice,  becomes  con- 
scious that  he  is  a  wrong-doer ;  he  is  frequently  warned 
of  his  danger,  and  his  moral  nature  lashes  him  back 
into  the  path  of  his  duty,  but  in  religious  viciousness, 
i.  e.  when  he  gives  way  to  the  excessive  gratification 
of  his  religious  sentiments,  his  whole  moral  nature  is 
enlisted  in  their  behalf,  and  the  belief  becomes  im- 
movably fixed  in  his  mind  that  he  is  becoming  more 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES.         287 

perfectly  religious  at  the  very  time  that  he  is  depart- 
ing farther  from  true  religion,  and  running  into  the 
wildest  fanaticism.  The  fanatic  is  the  most  con- 
firmed and  devoted  of  all  the  professors  of  religion, 
and  most  earnestly  endeavors  to  do  that  which  he 
conceives  to  be  his  duty^  but  by  the  perversion  of 
lys  religious  sentiments  he  acts  directly  contrary  to 
nis  own  intentions,  and  makes  religion  a  vice  and  an 
evil  instead  of  a  virtue. 

It  will  not  do  to  charge  the  inquisitors  of  Madrid 
with  insincerity  of  purpose,  for  it  is  very  certain  that 
they  really  thought  that  they  were  performing  the 
duties  which  religion  enjoined  upon  them ;  but  the 
gross  perversion  of  their  religious  sentiments  led 
them  into  the  strange  and  inconsistent  error  that  the 
religion,  which,  more  than  all  others,  is  distinguished 
for  its  peace  and  good  will  to  man,  and  is  so  em- 
phatically the  religion  of  love  and  mercy,  could  only 
be  propagated  by  bloodshed  and  murder.  The  Ro- 
man Catholic  of  the  middle  age,  evidently,  sincerely 
believed  that  the  extermination  of  the  heretics  from 
the  earth  by  fire  and  sword,  was  a  duty  enjoined  upon 
him  by  God,  and  that  he  would  be  finally  rewarded  for 
shedding  the  blood  of  his  fellow-beings,  because  they 
did  not  believe  as  himself.  The  bloody  religious  wars 
and  persecutions  which  have  desolated  Europe,  Asia 
and  Africa  for  successive  ages,  and  were  carried  on 
by  the  professors  of  the  Christian  religion,  who  with 
their  own  hands  shed  the  blood  of  millions  of  their 
fellow-christians,  without  even  suspecting  that  they 
were  departing  in  the  slightest  from  its  precepts ; 
these  attest  that  the  most  potent  agencies  for  evil 
lurk  beneath  the  strictest  profession  of  religion,  and 
that  the  religious  sentiment,  in  whatever  shape  it 
may  manifest  itself,  when  once  perverted,  visits  upon 


288  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

the  human  race  the  greatest  evils  Avhich  have  ever 
afflicted  it. 

It  may  now  be  perceived  that  all  religion  is 
founded  upon  the  same  sentiment  of  the  human 
mind,  and  is  pure  or  imptlre  according  as  that  sen- 
timent is  properly  cultivated  or  perverted.  One  por- 
tion of  th#  kuman  family  are  followers  of  Christ ;  an 
other  of  Mahomet,  and  an  other  worships  at  the  shrine 
of  heathenism,  from  the  same  principle ;  and  that  is 
the  inborn  feeling  of  veneration  which  is  implanted 
in  the  human  mind.  The  particular  form  of  religion 
which  a  people  professes  is  determined  by  the  man- 
ner in  which  this  feeling  or  sentiment  is  exercised, 
and  any  nation  of  people,  by  the  proper  course  of 
instruction  and  discipline,  may  be  shaped  into  chris- 
tians,  Mohammedans,  or  heathen,  and  every  religion, 
whether  of  human  or  divine  origin,  no  difference 
how  pure  and  truthful  may  be  its  precepts,  is  liable 
to  perversion,  and  may  result  in  the  grossest  errors 
and  superstition.  History  justifies  the  assertion  that 
Christianity  became,  during  the  dark  ages,  the  most 
superstitious  and  corrupt  religion  that  ever  existed 
upon  the  earth ;  yet  Christianity,  when  divested  of 
the  errors  which  human  folly  and  perverseness  have 
engrafted  upon  it,  is  the  purest  religion  which  has  yet 
been  taught  to  man.  This  did  not  result  from  any 
imperfect  defects  in  the  Christian  religion,  but  from 
the  perversion  and  depravity  of  the  sentiment  in  the 
human  mind,  upon  which  all  religion  is  founded. 
This  sentiment  may  become  perverted  and  yet  not 
depraved;  for  instance,  fanaticism  perverts  it,  and 
generally  leads  men  to  the  persecution  of  their  fel- 
low men,  instead  of  the  worship  of  their  Creator; 
but  immoral  and  irreligious  practices  deprave  it,  and 


RELIGIOUS   FANCIES  AND   FOLLIES.         289 

•when  this  is  the  case,  all  the  moral  sentiments  of  men 
generally  sink  with  it. 

Now,  if  we  carefully  consider  these  principles,  we 
shall  discover  that  Polytheism  became  the  primitive 
religion  of  man,  as  the  legimate  result  of  the  laws 
which  control  human  conduct.  Unassisted  reason 
was  incapable  of  arriving  at  the  grand  idea  of  one 
Supreme  overruling  providence ;  the  self-existing 
Author  of  Creation,  who  governs  all  the  systems 
of  the  Universe  by  definitely  established  and  uni- 
form laws.  The  idea  is  too  huge  for  the  narrow 
conception  of  the  human  mind  ;  and  had  not  the 
Author  of  nature  made  himself  known  by  direct 
revelation,  the  strong  probability  is,  that  man  would, 
to  this  day,  have  been  ignorant  of  the  most  essential 
attributes  of  his  Creator.  It  is  true  that  the  cos- 
mogony of  some  ancient  system  of  philosophy  has 
attempted  to  fix  upon  some  single  creative  or  oper- 
ative principle  which  called  the  universe  into  exist- 
ence, but  the  false  conclusions  at  which  they  arrived 
and  the  absurd  ideas  which  were  entertained  of  the 
Creator  and  the  created,  only  more  plainly  demon- 
strated the  utter  incapacity  of  the  unassisted  mind  to 
discover  the  hidden  secret  of  nature.  Such  efforts, 
unaided  by  revelation,  generally  resulted  in  gross 
pantheistic  conceptions;  the  extreme  antithesis  of 
the  Divine  Essence  of  the  self-existent,  uncreated 
God. 

Man  being  thus  incapable  of  comprehending  the 
grand  conceptions  of  Theism,  the  sentiment  of  vener- 
ation naturally  caused  him  to  look  up  to  some  higher 
power  as  the  proper  object  of  its  gratification,  and 
thus  he  necessarily  formed  such  systems  of  religion 
as  best  accorded  with  his  intelligence,  and  with  the 
circumstances  by  which  he  was  surrounded.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  in  these  early  ages  the  great 


290  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

mass  of  mankind  possessed  no  knowledge  of  the  God 
of  Israel.  The  operations  of  nature  were  incompre- 
hensible to  man.  They  seemed  to  be  controlled  by 
some  capricious  power  or  powers,  which  defied  all 
system.  And  as  he  could  discover  no  uniform  prin- 
ciple which  seemed  to  control  all  the  affairs  of  life, 
but  different  occupations  and  enterprises  seemed  to 
be  controlled  by  distinct  causes  or  powers,  it  there- 
fore very  naturally  appeared  to  him  that  there  were 
different  powers  controlling  the  different  modes  of  life. 
For  instance,  the  same  person  would  some  times  be 
successful  in  one  department  of  life,  but  unsuccessful 
in  an  other ;  he  would  be  successful  in  all  his  mercan- 
tile affairs,  but  trouble  and  sorrow  would  overtake  him 
in  his  domestic  relations  ;  he  would  be  prosperous  up- 
on land,  but  unfortunate  upon  sea ;  hence,  he  reason- 
ably concluded  that  there  were  different  overruling 
powers  which  controlled  these  different  spheres  of  ac- 
tion. Hence  resulted  the  cardinal  idea  of  Polythe- 
ism ;  that  there  was  a  distinct,  invisible,  intelligent 
power  which  controlled  the  results  of  each  distinct 
department  of  action,  and  accordingly,  we  find  that 
Cupid  was  the  god  of  love;  Venus  the  goddess  of 
beauty ;  Juno  was  invoked  at  marriages,  and  Lucinia 
at  births.  The  prayers  of  seamen  were  addressed  to 
Neptune,  and  Mars  received  those  of  warriors,  while 
the  husbandman  cultivated  his  fields  under  the  pro- 
tection of  Ceres,  and  the  merchant  acknowledged 
the  authority  of  Mercury. 

Thus  the  heathen  deities  were  indefinitely  mul- 
tiplied, and  all  the  operations  of  nature,  and  the 
result  of  each  human  transaction,  became  the  sub- 
ject of  peculiar  prayers  and  thanksgivings.  But 
as  the  sentiment  of  veneration  became  depraved, 
it  naturally  sought  gratification  by  the  adoration  of 
debased  objects,  and  dogs,  cats,  snakes,  crocodiles, 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES    AND  FOLLIES.        291 

and  almost  all  the  different  species  of  reptiles,  var- 
mints, and  monsters,  became  the  objects  of  human 
worship ;  and  so  obscured  did  the  light  of  reason  be- 
come by  the  clouds  of  superstition,  that  the  highest 
aim  of  the  religious  sentiment  of  human  nature  was 
to  appease  the  wrath,  and  secure  the  protection  of 
the  lifeless  objects  of  inanimate  nature,  and  in  this 
debased  condition  remains  a  portion  of  the  human 
race,  even  to-day. 

According  to  the  constitution  of  human  nature, 
it  is  perfectly  obvious  that,  as  long  as  the  sentiment 
of  veneration  was  directed  to  the  worship  of  such 
debased  objects,  religion  had  no  other  influence  than 
to  deprave  the  human  race.  Religion,  in  order  to 
exert  a  reclaiming  and  elevating  influence  upon  the 
human  mind,  must  direct  its  worship  to  a  pure  and 
exalted  object,  and  the  purer  and  more  exalted  the 
conceptions  of  religion,  the  nobler  the  influences 
which  it  exerts  upon  the  mind.  Thus  did  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Bible  come  to  the  rescue  of  mankind. 
Although  many  errors  and  superstitions  have  been 
engrafted  upon  it  by  human  ignorance  and  credulity, 
yet  it  pointed  the  veneration  of  man  to  the  worship 
of  a  just  and  supreme  God,  pure  and  exalted  beyond 
the  utmost  conceptions  of  the  human  mind. 

A  pure  and  shining  ray  beams  forth  from  the 
dawning  of  the  Christian  era.  Aside  from  the  Di- 
vine Teacher,  the  primitive  Christians  were,  perhaps, 
as  perfect  examples  of  untarnished  piety  and  virtue 
as  the  history  of  man  can  furnish.  But  let  us  hero 
remark,  that  nothing  can  afford  more  consolation  and 
encouragement  to  the  advocate  of  human  improve- 
ment than  the  pleasing  reflection  that  all  the  quali- 
ties which  enabled  the  primitive  Christians  to  attain 
such  a  pure  and  exalted,  moral  and  religious  con- 
dition, are  inherent  in  human  nature,  and  that  this 


292  MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

assertion -is  not  founded  upon  mere  speculative 
theory,  but  upon  the  unquestionable  fact  that  man 
has  already  proved  his  capacity  to  attain  it.  This, 
therefore,  exposes  the  fallacy  of  the  argument,  that 
because  the  mass  of  humanity  are  ignorant  and  im- 
moral, therefore,  the  mass  of  mankind  are  inherently 
incapable  of  attaining  and  sustaining  an  elevated 
state  of  intelligence  and  morality;  for,  as  already 
shown,  all  these  moral  faculties  are  implanted  in 
the  mind  of  universal  humanity,  and  it  only  requires 
the  fostering  hand  of  proper  cultivation  to  develop 
them  into  strength  and  activity. 

How  lovely  is  the  light  of  pure  and  undefiled 
Christianity,  which  shines  forth  amid  the  deep  dark- 
ness which  had  settled  around  the  religious  senti- 
ments of  mankind  in  the  age  of  the  Christian  era. 
The  primitive  Christians  deeply  impressed  with  the 
truth  and  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  advocating  a 
new  doctrine,  which  was  radically  contrary  to  all  the 
received  religious  opinions  of  the  age,  and  conscien- 
tiously refusing  to  observe  any  of  the  prevailing 
religious  rites  and  ordinances,  it  necessarily  produced 
feelings  of  bitter  animosity  between  the  proselytes 
to  Christianity  and  the  votaries  of  paganism,  which 
lead  to  determined  opposition  and  persecution.  Al- 
though the  systems  of  paganism  admitted  of  com- 
plete religious  tolerance,  and  even  permitted  foreign 
gods  to  be  placed  among  native  deities,  and  the 
pagan  could  see  no  inconsistency  in  admitting  the 
truth  of  all  religions,  yet  when  the  worshippers  of 
the  "unknown  God"  claimed  for  him  supreme  and 
undivided  jurisdiction  over  the  universal  creation, 
it  was  soon  perceived  that  this  new  religion  aimed 
at  the  destruction  of  all  others.  Yet  the  persecu- 
tions which  ensued  scarcely  deserve  the  name  when 
compared  with  the  murderous  persecutions,  frequently 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES  AND   FOLLIES.         293 

aiming  at  total  extermination,  which  different  denom- 
inations of  Christians  have  since  inflicted  upon  each 
other. 

The  primitive  Christians  had  no  motives  to  induce 
them  to  espouse  the  cause  of  Christianity  but  the 
purest  motives  of  religion,  and  a  thorough  conviction 
of  its  truth.  It  was  not  the  established  religion  of 
any  nation  ;  its  profession  was  not  fashionable  among 
men,  and  those  who  became  Christians  must  expect  to 
meet  the  jeers  and  persecutions  of  their  fellow-men, 
and,  consequently,  we  may  safely  conclude,  that  when 
any  person  made  a  profession  of  Christianity  under 
such  circumstances,  he  had  very  thoroughly  purged 
his  nature  of  all  its  vanities,  follies,  and  vices ;  and 
he  became  a  Christian  in  truth  and  in  spirit.  For 
this  reason  the  primitive  Christians  reckoned  among 
their  numbers  scarcely  any  persons  of  influence  or 
wealth,  but  they  were  drawn  almost  entirely  from 
the  humbler  classes  of  society.  Under  such  circum- 
stances it  is  not  surprising  that  Christianity  has  not 
equalled,  in  the  more  advanced  ages  of  its  existence, 
the  pure  light  with  which  it  shone  forth  in  its  infancy. 

Indeed,  an  intimate  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
and  a  careful  study  of  the  history  of  man,  establishes 
the  conclusion  that  the  most  exalted  emotions  and 
ennobling  sentiments  of  the  human  mind  can  only 
be  elicited  by  constant  struggle  and  strong  opposi- 
tion, and  that,  as  soon  as  complete  success  has  been 
achieved,  prosperity  and  inaction  relaxes  and  de- 
stroys the  noble  energies  of  our  nature,  and  the  true 
virtue  and  greatness  of  man  naturally  sink  into 
dilapidation  and  decay.  The  history  of  Christian- 
ity affords  no  exception  to  this  general  rule.  In  its 
earlier  ages,  earnestly  seeking  proselytes  among  an- 
tagonistic religions,  and  sincerely  desiring  the  con- 
version of  mankind  to  its  faith,  with  nothing  to 


294  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

recommend  it  to  the  world  but  the  purity  and  ex- 
altedness  of  its  doctrines,  it  necessarily  required  a 
constant  struggle  upon  the  part  of  its  believers  to 
sustain  it  against  the  strong  opposition  which  it 
encountered ;  and  this  struggle,  together  with  an 
earnest  effort  to  live  in  accordance  with  its  doc- 
trines, formed  in  its  professors  the  most  perfect 
models  of  Christian  virtue  and  morality.  But  as 
soon  as  the  conversion  of  the  emperor  Constantino 
made  it  the  established  religion  of  the  Roman  world, 
and  it  thus  became  popular  and  fashionable,  pros- 
perity sapped  the  fountains  of  its  purity,  and  its 
native  simplicity  was  lost  amid  the  pomp  and  parade 
of  public  worship. 

It  is  by  no  means  an  anomaly  in  the  history  of 
human  affairs  that  the  Christian  religion  was  de- 
prived of  its  purity  and  simplicity  at  the  com- 
mencement of  its  success.  But  there  were  external 
causes  which  hastened  its  degradation.  Although 
it  was  introduced  into  the  world  during  the  Augus- 
tine age,  yet,  before  it  became  the  religion  of  any 
considerable  part  of  the  human  race,  the  sun  of  the 
Augustine  civilization  was  fast  approaching  its  final 
setting.  Christianity  spread  with  the  reign  of  igno- 
rance and  superstition.  It  received  the  impress  of 
the  age,  and  soon  presented  a  most  disgusting  spec- 
tacle of  superstition  and  absurdity.  The  fall  of  the 
great  colossus  of  Roman  power  buried  beneath  its 
ruins  the  last  spark  of  civilization  that  existed  among 
men,  and  the  fetters  of  an  eternal  night  of  mental 
darkness  seemed  riveted  upon  the  human  mind.  No 
ray  of  philosophic  light  beamed  forth  from  Greece, 
the  primitive  school-house  of  human  science ;  the 
Augustine  age  had  long  since  passed  away,  and 
the  glorious  fabric  of  Roman  learning  had  either 
perished,  or  existed  in  old  unused  volumes,  which, 


RELIGIOUS   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES.         295 

had  accidentally  escaped  the  mental  deluge,  to  be 
bequeathed  as  the  rich  legacy  of  ancient  to  modern 
civilization. 

The  inevitable  result  was,  that  the  Christian  re- 
ligion continued  to  become  degraded  as  the  moral 
and  intellectual  sentiments  of  man  became  depraved, 
until  it  was  deprived  of  all  its  purity  and  simplicity, 
and  became  a  system  of  superstition  and  absurdity, 
founded  upon  false  miracles  and  pious  frauds,  fre- 
quently of  the  most  scandalous  and  immoral  char- 
acter. And  as  it  was  thus  diverted  from  its  original 
character,  the  ecclesiastical  power  became  the  tem- 
poral and  spiritual  tyrant  of  the  professors  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  Roman  pontiff  governed  the  Christian 
world ;  kings  and  emperors  held  their  authority  by 
his  sufferance ;  men  believed  that  their  eternal  sal- 
vation depended  upon  his  will ;  he  exercised  supreme 
jurisdiction  upon  earth,  and  held  the  keys  of  heaven. 

Thus  were  the  nations  professing  Christianity,  com- 
prising most  of  the  nations  or  hordes  of  Europe,  and 
some  of  those  of  Asia  and  Africa,  held  in  the  most 
servile  and  abject  religious  vassalage.  The  eccle- 
siastical power  was  used  for  the  accomplishment  of 
the  basest  purposes,  and  the  practice  of  religion 
became  little  else  than  the  practice  of  folly,  fraud 
and  outrage ;  yet,  even  debased  and  corrupted  as  it 
was,  it  did  not  fail  to  produce  beneficial  results.  No 
system  of  superstition  and  absurdity  can  be  so  gross 
but  that  it  will  find  devoted  believers  during  such 
ages  of  mental  darkness.  Indeed,  no  religion  could 
in  those  ages  attract  and  retain  the  attention  of  the 
masses,  unless  it  appealed  to  the  senses  instead  of 
the  reason,  and  presented  to  the  public  gaze  a  myth 
of  incomprehensible  mysticism,  and  thus  the  turbu- 
lence and  violence  of  those  ages  were  frequently  held 
in  check.  But  the  emancipation  of  the  human  mind 


296  MODERN    FANCIES   AND    FOLLIES. 

from  this  religious  thraldom  was  an  achievement 
which  required  the  efforts  of  ages.  For  ages  the 
struggle  was  desperate  and  doubtful,  and  religious 
tolerance,  as  it  this  day  has  its  home  in  every  civil- 
ized nation  upon  the  earth,  was  nurtured  by  the  blood 
of  millions  of  heroic  and  devoted  Christians.  But 
although  the  Christian  religion  has  been  divested  of 
most  of  the  monstrous  errors  and  superstitions  which 
were  bequeathed  to  it  by  the  dark  ages,  yet  there 
are  many  errors  and  follies  still  connected  with  its 
practice,  which  deserve  the  serious  attention  of  every 
candid  and  reflecting  person. 

The  foregoing  rapid  sketch  is  deemed  essential  to 
a  proper  understanding  of  the  true  foundation  of 
religion  in  human  nature,  in  order  that  we  may 
correctly  understand  the  religious  follies  and  errors 
of  the  present  age.  From  this  sketch  it  will  be 
observed  that  the  greatest  follies  and  errors,  and 
even  outrage  and  wickedness,  of  which  man  has  ever 
been  guilty,  has  resulted  directly  from  the  perversion 
of  his  religious  sentiments.  But  as  long  as  man 
remains  a  fallible  being,  it  is  impossible  to  prevent 
folly  and  error,  in  some  degree,  from  mingling  in  all 
human  affairs.  But  the  nearer  he  approaches  the 
proper  development  of  all  the  faculties  of  his  nature, 
the  nearer  he  approaches  to  perfection,  and  the  more 
he  perverts  these  faculties,  or  neglects  their  proper 
development,  the  farther  he  departs  from  the  true 
design  of  his  being,  and,  consequently,  the  deeper 
he  sinks  into  vice  and  crime.  Now,  the  religious 
sentiment  of  man  being  the  noblest  faculty  of  his 
nature,  it  is,  consequently,  of  the  greatest  import- 
ance to  him  -that  this  faculty  should  be  cultivated 
and  developed  by  the  practice  of  true  religion.  We 
have  seen  the  evils  into  which  false  religion  has  led 


RELIGIOUS   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES.          297 

man,  we  shall  see  the  benefits  and  blessings  which 
true  religion  can  confer  upon  him. 

But  the  error  which  necessarily  results  from  hu- 
man fallibility  does  not,  by  any  means,  defeat  the 
efficacy  of  true  religion.  As  the  dark  spots  upon 
the  disk  of  the  sun  are  invisible  amid  the  dazzling 
brightness  of  its  effulgent  light,  and  do  not  prevent 
its  genial  warmth  from  bringing  gladness  to  man, 
and  infusing  life  and  activity  into  all  the  energies 
of  nature,  neither  do  the  slight  blemishes  of  un- 
avoidable error  upon  the  loveliness  of  true  religion 
prevent  its  genial  influence  from  arousing  into  ac- 
tion and  invigorating  all  the  most  ennobling  and 
elevating  sentiments  of  human  nature.  These  neces- 
sary errors  are  not  the  cause  of  any  of  those  gross 
and  glaring  follies  and  absurdities  which  bring 
shame  and  disgrace  upon  the  very  name  of  Chris- 
tianity. True  religion  can  be  attained  only  by  di- 
recting the  religious  sentiment  of  human  nature, 
by  the  dictates  of  properly  developed  and  well 
cultivated  reason.  If  this  sentiment  is  unduly  ex- 
ercised and  not  properly  controlled  by  reason,  super- 
stition and  fanaticism  are  the  inevitable  results  ;  but 
when  the  reason  is  not  properly  cultivated,  this  senti- 
ment is  not  brought  into  proper  exercise,  and  then 
indifference  to  religion  is  the  result. 

Either  of  these  defeats  the  design  of  human  intel- 
ligence. But  if  it  be  urged  that  those  who  have 
attempted  to  reason  upon  religious  subjects  have 
frequently  reasoned  themselves  into  a  disbelief  of 
all  religion,  we  urge  in  reply  that  this  is  the  fault 
of  false  religion  and  not  of  true  reason.  Reason 
revolts  with  disgust  at  the  spectacle  which  religion 
presents  as  it  has  generally  been  practiced  among 
men.  It  is  not  very  strange  that  reason  should 
some  times  condemn  religion,  when  religion  has 


298  MODERN    FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

brought  so  many  evils  upon  man,  and  led  him  into 
such  irrational  errors  and  superstitions.  But  such 
is  not  the  result  of  true  reason.  Properly  developed 
reason  will  never  condemn  true  religion,  because 
great  evils  have  resulted  from  false  religion,  but  it 
will  alike  condemn  false  religion  in  all  its  shapes, 
and  give  its  assent  and  aid  to  true  religion.  It  will 
discriminate  between  the  proper  use  and  the  abuse 
of  the  faculties  of  human  nature. 

The  principal  reason  why  the  originally  pure  and 
simple  system  of  Christianity  has  been  confused  and 
mystified  in  later  ages  by  so  many  errors  and  super- 
stitions is  because  it  has  denied  to  reason  its  proper 
office  in  directing  the  thoughts  and  actions  of  men. 
Christianity  has  been  so  bedeviled  by  those  who  pro- 
fess it,  that  it  is  now  impossible  even  to  define  what 
it  is.  If  you  ask  one  Christian  what  it  it  is,  he  will 
tell  you  that  it  is  Methodism ;  ask  an  other  and  it  is 
Presbyterianism ;  and  so  on,  in  almost  endless  vari- 
ety; but  if  we  were  to  undertake  to  define  it,  we  should 
say  that  it  is  none  of  these.  We  are  told  that  the 
Christian  religion  is  a  religion  of  faith,  that  is,  we 
must  believe  what  the  preachers  tell  us.  Now  we 
may  believe  any  one  of  the  different  kinds  of  Chris- 
tianity, but  we  must  not  exercise  our  reason ;  but  we 
must  have  faith  in  its  truth,  because  it  is  said  to  be 
derived  from  the  Bible.  Thus  we  are  supplied  with 
a  kind  of  ready-made  religion  by  a  set  of  persons 
whose  business  it  is  to  manufacture  the  article,  and 
we  are  required  to  swallow  it  without  asking  any 
questions  as  to  whether  it  is  pure  or  poison.  Now, 
if  religion  consisted  entirely  of  Divine  truth,  this 
principle  of  passive  faith  would  be  perfectly  right; 
but  where  this  Divine  truth  is  so  much  mingled  with 
human  error  and  folly,  as  it  has  been,  and  still  is, 
it  will  not  do  to  put  implicit  faith  in  whatever  is 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES.         299 

huckstered  to  us  in  the  name  of  religion.  When 
the  real  truth  of  the  Bible  is  so  overgrown  with  hu- 
man error,  if  we  place  implicit  faith  in  whatever  pur- 
ports to  come  from  the  Bible,  we  will  believe  more 
error  than  truth. 

It  was  this  principle  which  sustained  a  belief  in 
the  pretended  miracles  and  pious  frauds  of  the  mid- 
dle ages,  and  upon  it  is  founded  many  of  the  reli- 
gious follies  of  the  present  age.  How  many  religious 
doctrines  are  there  which  their  professors  dare  not 
submit  to  the  test  of  right  reason,  but  around  which 
they  have  thrown  the  inviolable  pale  of  sacred  mys- 
tery, which  they  fancy  they  have  tortured  from  the 
meaning  of  the  Bible.  Most  persons  do  not  practice 
religion  because  their  reason  teaches  them  that  it  is 
right  that  they  should,  but  because  the  Bible  says  so  ; 
and  hence,  in  forming  their  religious  beliefs,  they 
deprive  themselves  of  the  indispensable  aid  of  reason, 
and  imagine  that  any  meaning  which  they  can  pos- 
sibly torture  out  of  detached  portions  of  the  Bible, 
is  necessarily  and  unavoidably  true.  Hence  the 
numerous  and  antagonistic  sects  of  Christians,  all 
professing  to  derive  their  creeds  from  precisely  the 
same  source. 

The  Christian  world  reads  several  hundred  differ- 
ent and  distinct  kinds  of  religion  out  of  the  same 
book,  all  pretending  to  differ  from  each  other  in  im- 
portant and  essential  particulars,  and  if  we  are  to 
take  the  present  condition  of  Christendom  as  the  test, 
the  Bible  has  several  hundred  different  and  distinct 
meanings.  This  is  simply  absurd,  and  irresistibly 
forces  the  conclusion  upon  us,  that  none  of  these 
constructions  are  completely  in  accordance  with  the 
spirit  and  truth  of  the  Bible,  for  as  no  two  of  these 
sects  agree  in  their  doctrines  of  belief,  and  as  no 
person  will,  for  a  moment,  contend  that  the  Bible  has 


300  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

so  many  inconsistent  and  opposite  meanings,  or  that 
its  truth  and  spirit  can  be  subdivided  into  so  many 
contradictory  and  antagonistic  elements,  but  as  it 
incontestibly  has  but  one  meaning,  and  teaches  but 
one  religion,  it  follows,  conclusively,  that  no  two  of 
these  different  kinds  of  Christianity  can  be  right,  and 
if  any  one  of  them  is  right,  all  the  rest  are  wrong. 
Such  being  the  case,  we  may  safely  conclude,  that 
no  one  of  all  these  differing  sects  embodies  in  its 
creed  the  true  spirit  and  meaning  of  the  Bible.  Yet 
there  are  many  members  of  all  these  different  sects, 
who  so  confidently  believe  in  the  divine  origin  of  the 
forms  and  dogmas  of  their  particular  kind  of  Chris- 
tianity, that  they  sincerely  believe  that  they  are  trav- 
eling the  only  road  which  leads  to  heaven,  and  that 
there  is  no  hope  for  the  salvation  of  those  hardened 
heretics  who  construe  the  scriptures  and  worship 
God  different  from  themselves. 

Indeed  the  subdivision  of  Christianity  into  so  many 
conflicting  doctrines  and  beliefs,  necessarily  involves 
this  -  uncharitable  principle,  or  it  involves  a  most 
unchristian  spirit  of  strife  and  contention.  But,  says 
the  devout  and  charitable  member  of  a  Christian  sect, 
I  do  not  believe  that  the  members  of  our  church  are 
the  only  ones  that  will  be  saved,  but  I  believe  that 
the  sincere  and  faithful  members  of  other  evangeli- 
cal denominations  will  also  be  saved.  Very  well. 
What,  then,  is  the  use  of  all  this  rancorous  caviling, 
this  inveterate  spleen  and  invective,  this  interminable 
and  maddening  controversy  about  different  doctrines 
and  tenets,  so  contrary  to  all  true  Christianity,  if  all 
of  them  are  equally  good?  If  all  the  evangelical 
churches  teach  those  fundamental  principles  and  doc- 
trines which  are  essential  to  salvation,  why  do  you 
divide  the  army  of  the  cross  into  distinct  detachments, 
arid  charge  them  against  each  othfer,  instead  of  di- 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES.         301 

recting  their  united  force  against  the  real  enemies 
of  Christianity?  If  you  really  believe  that  the  de- 
vout members  of  other  evangelical  churches  are  as 
well  entitled  to  salvation  as  the  members  of  your 
particular  church,  why  do  you  go  on  caviling  about 
non-essential  forms?  why  continue  to  distract  the 
world  with  your  religious  dissensions,  until  Christian- 
ity presents  the  appearance  of  a  heterogeneous  mass 
of  antagonistic  elements,  hissing  and  stewing  as  if 
they  would  consume  each  other?  If  you  are  all 
agreed  upon  what  it  takes  to  constitute  a  true  soldier 
of  the  cross,  why  not  discard  all  little  minor  differ- 
ences about  uniform  and  tactics,  and  march  in  one 
unbroken  phalanx  to  expel  vice  and  wickedness  from 
the  world,  and  establish  the  reign  of  the  homogenous 
elements  of  true  religion  ?  Why  not  ?  Why  these 
sects  have  distorted  the  Bible  until  it  has  hundreds 
of  different  meanings,  and  reason  is  not  allowed  to 
interfere  to  affect  a  reconciliation  between  the  con- 
tending parties. 

One  sect  has  tortured  this  meaning  out  of  the  Bible, 
and,  therefore,  it  is  true,  and  any  person  is  a  heretic 
who  doubts  it.  An  other  sect  has  tortured  this  mean- 
ing out  of  the  Bible,  and,  therefore,  it  is  true,  although 
contrary  to  the  other,  and  any  person  is  an  infidel 
who  does  not  believe  it,  and  so  on  until  the  different 
and  conflicting  meanings  of  the  Bible  amount  to  hun- 
dreds, and,  according  to  the  different  sects,  you  can 
not  be  saved  unless  you  believe  all  of  them.  There 
are  more  different  forms  of  Christianity  than  there 
ever  were  of  paganism,  yet,  all  christians  profess  to 
worship  the  same  Supreme  Being,  and  to  derive  all 
their  doctrines  and  beliefs  from  the  New  Testament, 
as  plain  and  simple  a  book,  and  as  clear  of  mystery 
and  obscurity  of  meaning  as  any  book  ever  written ; 
while  paganism  |lrofessedly  worships  an  indefinite 


302  MODERN  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

number  of  gods,  and  derives  its  doctrines  and  beliefs 
from  the  infinite  sources  of  caprice  and  superstition, 
without  any  generally  received  system  of  precepts, 
upon  which  to  found  a  unity  of  religious  belief.  If 
Christendom  worshiped  different  gods,  or  derived 
the  manner  of  worship  of  the  same  God  from  differ- 
ent precepts,  then  all  this  variety  of  religious  belief 
would  be  reconcilable,  at  least  with  the  conduct  of 
rational  beings.  Mohammedanism,  like  Christianity, 
is  founded  upon  a  single  system  of  precepts,  and  they 
both  worship  the  same  God ;  but  the  Mohammedan 
religion  has  never  been  divided  into  numerous  con- 
tending sects,  and  with  all  its  errors  and  supersti- 
tions, it  has  been  professed  by  a  larger  portion  of 
mankind  than  the  Christian  religion. 

If  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity  are 
true,  and  it  is  really  founded  in  the  principles  of 
"  peace  on  earth  and  good  will  among  men,"  why 
does  its  practice  produce  so  much  difference  and 
contention  among  its  professors  ?  This  can  not  re- 
sult from  the  practice  of  true  religion.  It  does 
not  result  from  the  practice  of  the  precepts  of  true 
Christianity,  but  from  the  error  and  false  doctrines 
which  deluded  men  have  mingled  with  those  pre- 
cepts. If  all  the  error  and  distorted  construction* 
which  ignorance  and  superstition  choose  to  engraft 
upon  the  truths  of  Christianity  are  to  receive  the 
sacred  character  of  those  truths,  and  then  this  mass 
of  mingled  truth  and  error  is  to  be  regarded  with 
holy  reverence,  and  we  dare  not  question  its  truth 
or  genuineness,  because  it  is  said  to  be  contained  in 
the  Bible,  the  sooner  such  a  system  of  religion  is 
swept  from  the  earth  the  better.  Who  will  dare 
deny  that  the  most  gross  and  absurd  errors  have 
been  engrafted  upon  these  truths  in  past  ages, 
that  these  truths  and  errors  have  alike  received 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES.         303 

the  reverence  and  veneration  of  professing  chris- 
tians  ?  If  any  Christian  of  the  present  day  believes 
that  all  these  errors  have  been  exploded  and  removed, 
and  that  the  truths  of  Scripture  now  stand  forth 
unadulterated  and  free  from  error,  let  him  at  once 
be  undeceived. 

Sacred  error  has  always  been  the  withering  curse 
of  Christianity,  and  has  obscured  the  plainness  and 
simplicity  of  its  truths ;  error,  which  could  not  for 
a  moment  stand  the  test  of  reason,  did  not  its  sup- 
posed sacredness  forbid  the  use  of  reason.  It  is 
the  error  which  has  become  associated  with  Chris- 
tianity which  has  caused  men  to  understand  it  differ- 
ently, and  prevented  them  from  understanding  it  cor- 
rectly. Its  simple  truths  could  lead  no  man  astray. 
But  we  will  never  acknowledge  the  sacredness  of 
error,  and  we  shall  strike  it  fearlessly,  whether  we  find 
it  concealed  in  religious  sectarianism,  or  even  within 
the  lids  of  the  Bible.  If  the  Bible  is  true,  it  can 
stand  the  test  of  reasonable  investigation  ;  if  it  is  not 
true,  in  God's  name  let  its  falseness  be  exposed. 
The  fact  is,  that  men  fabricate  all  kinds  of  conflict- 
ing and  discordant  doctrines  and  beliefs  by  distort- 
ing the  truths  of  Scripture,  and  then  back  up  their 
own  fabrications  by  the  authority  of  God,  and  teach 
them  to  their  followers  as  the  true  spirit  and  mean- 
ing of  the  Bible,  and  the  devoted  believers  religiously 
stifle  the  teachings  of  their  impious  reason  if  it  dare 
to  suggest  that  any  thing  so  sacred  as  these  religious 
hallucinations  could  possibly  be  false.  We  may  ad- 
mit that  the  Christian  religion  is  of  divine  origin, 
but  we  will  not  admit  that  all  the  human  errors  and 
superstitions  which  have  been  engrafted  upon  it  are 
also  of  divine  origin.  Persons  who  devoutly  love 
and  cherish  the  belief  in  the  divine  origin  of  their 
religion,  without  reflecting  upon  this  important  dis- 


304  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

tinction,  unconsciously  work  themselves  into  the  be- 
lief that  all  that  they  find  connected  with  that  religion 
is  also  divine  and  sacred,  and,  as  according  to  sec- 
tarian religion,  the  most  that  men  are  required  to 
believe  are  only  the  opinions  and  doctrines  of  men 
which  are  supposed  to  be  founded  upon  Scripture, 
it  results  that  Christians  very  frequently  believe  that 
to  be  of  divine  origin  which  is  only  of  human  fab- 
rication, and  hence  it  is,  that,  instead  of  the  one 
"straight  and  narrow  way,"  we  have  so  many  by- 
paths and  crooked  roads,  and  we  have  Christians 
traveling  to  heaven  in  every  imaginable  direction. 

The  different  Christian  sects  are  so  attached  to 
their  particular  creeds  and  forms  of  worship,  that 
the  religion  of  the  present  day  consists  too  much  in 
merely  conforming  to  these  outward  forms  and  cere- 
monie^while  the  purifying  emotions  of  true  religion 
never  reach  the  heart.  All  these  different  forms  and 
distinct  divisions  of  the  Christian  religion  being  con- 
sidered as  of  divine  origin  by  the  sect  which  pro- 
fesses each,  they  are  regarded  with  holy  reverence ; 
and  how  often  are  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity entirely  lost  sight  of  in  the  scrupulous  obser- 
vance of  these  various  forms  of  human  error.  Most 
of  the  Christian  denominations  very  nearly  agree 
upon  all  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion ;  but  one  sect  insists  upon  engrafting  this 
sacred  mystery,  or  that  particular  notion  or  opinion 
upon  these  cardinal  doctrines,  and  an  other  sect  in- 
sists upon  engrafting  upon  them  entirely  different 
and  contrary  mysteries  and  opinions,  and  thus  a 
division  into  sects  occurs,  not  on  account  of  any 
irreconcilable  difference  of  belief  in  regard  to  the 
essential  principles  of  Christianity,  but  in  regard 
to  the  manner  in  which  those  principles  shall  be 
mystified  and  falsified.  A  scrupulous  adherence  to 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES    AND  FOLLIES.        305 

particular  forms  and  ceremonies  is  not  generally 
an  indication  of  true  religion,  but  of  the  want  of  it. 
When  a  division  occurs  in  a  Christian  denomination, 
it  is  not  generally  caused  by  a  difference  of  belief 
in  regard  to  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  Christian 
faith,  but  the  members  disagree  about  non-essen- 
tial forms  and  opinions,  and  in  wrangling  about  these 
they  lose  sight  of  all  religion,  and  split  because  they 
can  not  agree  apon  which  error  they  ought  to  believe. 
True  Christianity  can  be  established,  and  a  uni- 
formity of  Christian  belief  secured  only  by  the  pro- 
per development  of  the  moral  faculties  of  the  human 
mind,  and  by  submitting  unreservedly  all  religious 
subjects  to  the  test  of  enlightened  reason.  As  long, 
as  human  error  can  be  mingled  with  the  Divine  truths 
of  Christianity,  and  avail  itself  of  the  sacredness  of 
their  character,  and  thus  escape  the  scrutiny  of 
reason,  it  is  impossible  to  eradicate  error  from  reli- 
gious belief,  and  harmony  in  religious  sentiments  will 
be  unattainable,  because  of  the  infinite  forms  and 
shapes  which  this  error  is  continually  assuming. 
There  is  no  principle  or  precept  connected  with  true 
Christianity,  and  which  is  essential  to  its  complete 
adaptation  to  human  condition  which  is  shrouded  in 
inscrutable  mystery.  So  far  as  it  is  necessary  for 
man  to  understand  it,  it  is  a  plain  and  simple  system, 
but  he  obscures  and  mystifies  it  himself,  and  then 
deprives  himself  of  the  only  means  by  which  these 
mysteries  and  errors  can  be  removed  and  prevented. 
Correct  reason  acknowledges  the  truth  of  the  Chris- 
tian revelation,  and  placing  itself  upon  these  truths, 
it,  and  it  only,  can  guard  them  against  assailing  errors 
and  superstitions.  It  is  questioning  the  justice 
of  God  to  suppose  that  he  has  not  revealed  all  that 
is  essential  to  our  religious  welfare,  and  it  is  nothing 
but  an  unholy  attempt  to  defeat  His  designs,  to  re- 
26 


306  MODERN  FANCIES  AND   FOLLIES. 

fuse  to  employ  all  the  faculties  and  powers  with 
which  he  has  endowed  us,  to  enable  us  to  correctly 
understand  those  revelations. 

But,  let  not  this  argument  against  Christian  secta- 
rianism be  construed  into  an  argument  against  Chris- 
tianity itself.  The  religion  itself  is  of  Divine  origin, 
but  during  its  long  terrestrial  residence,  many  human 
follies  and  extravagancies  have  become  associated 
with  it,  and,  in  the  course  of  succeeding  ages,  this 
truth  and  error  have  become  united  and  grown  into  re- 
ligious systems,  and  it  much  needs  the  aid  of  enlight- 
ened reason  and  unprejudiced  investigation  to  sep- 
arate them.  But,  let  us  have  Christianity.  If  we 
can  not  have  it  without  sectarianism,  let  us  have  it 
with  it.  The  good  results  which  flow  from  its  practice, 
even  thus  adulterated,  very  far  over-balance  the  evil 
ones.  But  in  becoming  members  of  a  Christian  sect, 
let  us  strive  to  become  Christians  instead  of  secta- 
rians ;  instead  of  blindly  worshiping  the  forms  and 
follies  of  human  invention,  practice  the  plain  and 
simple  precepts  of  true  Christianity;  in  this  way,  and 
in  this  way  only  each  member  may  effectually  pro- 
mote the  most  important  interests  of  the  Christian 
religion,  that  of  liberating  the  sacred  prisoner  from 
the  fetters  of  human  error.  Let  us  remember  that 
we  are  not  registered  in  the  Book  of  Life  as  Metho- 
dists, Baptists,  or  Presbyterians  ;  let  us  remember 
that  when  we  shall  be  judged  according  to  the  deeds 
done  in  the  body,  we  will  not  be  judged  according  to 
the  multiform  errors  and  follies  of  Christian  sectarian- 
ism, but  according  to  the  truth  and  spirit  of  the 
Christian  revelation. 

In  no  sphere  of  life  is  self-delusion  so  manifestly 
displayed  as  in  the  practice  of  religion.  It  frequently 
happens  that  the  glaring  disagreement  between  the 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES.         307 

profession  and  practice  of  Christians  is  the  result  of 
hypocritical  motives,  but  more  frequently  it  results 
from  self-delusion.  If  we  calmly  reflect  upon  the 
subject  of  religion,  we'must  conclude  that  there  is 
nothing  legitimately  connected  with  it  which  can 
engender  the  fiercer  passions  of  our  nature  ;  no  real 
inducement  or  temptation  to  introduce  falseness  into 
its  practice,  or  to  submit  it  to  the  debasing  influences 
of  worldly  motives.  There  are  no  incentives  to  ac- 
tion in  the  whole  routine  of  human  duty  in  which 
there  is  so  little  real  inducement  to  inconsistent  con- 
duct, as  there  is  in  the  practice  of  religion,  and  yet, 
there  is  no  sphere  of  duty  in  which  so  much  incon- 
sistency and  falseness  are  practiced.  This  strange 
effect,  which  is  so  palpably  manifested  in  real  life, 
must  have  a  producing  cause,  and  this  cause,  as  we 
conceive,  is  the  result  of  delusion  or  a  misconception 
of  the  real  nature  of  religion,  for  the  profession  of 
religion  is  wholly  voluntary  upon  the  part  of  the 
person  who  makes  it,  and  as  it  is  not  a  necessary 
qualification  to  the  enjoyment  of  any  of  the  pleas- 
ures or  emoluments  of  this  world,  and  as  it  is  not 
the  test  of  respectability  in  society,  or  the  road  which 
leads  to  honor,  it  seems  strange,  indeed,  that  per- 
sons should  make  a  profession  of  religion,  except  in 
earnest  sincerity,  and  that  there  should  be  such  a  ra- 
dical disagreement  in  its  profession  and  practice. 

The  rewards  of  a  religious  life  are  professedly 
to  be  enjoyed  in  a  future  state  of  existence,  although 
virtue,  which  is  the  most  essential  element  of  all 
true  religion,  confers  its  own  rewards  in  every  state 
and  condition  of  existence,  but  the  religious  senti- 
ment of  man  has  a  special  and  exclusive  relation 
to  his^  immortal  existence  beyond  the  floods  of  time. 
Every  person  who  makes  a  profession  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  acknowledges  that  the  flimsy  vail  of  hu- 


308  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

man  appearances  can  not  conceal  the  real  condition 
of  the  human  heart,  or  the  real  motives  of  the 
human  mind,  from  the  eye  of  Omnipotence,  although 
they  may  be  too  deep  for  the  penetration  of  human 
sagacity.  But  as  religion  has  a  reference  to  the 
relation  which  exists  between  God  and  man  alone, 
and  no,  reference  whatever  to  the  relations  which 
exist  between  man  and  man,  the  superlative  folly 
of  pursuing  that  course  of  conduct  which  can  only 
deceive  man  in  a  matter  to  which  he  has  no  relation, 
but  which,  it  is  confessed,  can  not,  in  the  least,  de- 
ceive God,  to  whom  it  alone  relates,  Avould  seem  to 
surpass  even  the  inconsistenc}'  of  deluded  humanity. 
How  often  is  it  that  persons  make  the  loudest 
professions  of  religion,  and  seem  to  think  that  it 
is  only  necessary  to  keep  up  an  apparent  conformity 
of  their  practice  to  their  profession  before  the  eyes 
of  men,  and  while  their  professions  are  of  the  most 
pious  character,  their  actions  are  at  variance  with 
all  true  religion,  even  with  justice  and  moral  duty. 
Do  they  not  know  that  man  has  nothing  to  do  with 
it ;  and  that  it  is  not  the  profession  of  religion  which 
their  Creator  will  reward,  but  the  practice  of  it ;  and, 
therefore,  that  the  profession  is  entirely  non-essen- 
tial, but  that  the  practice  of  true  religion  is  the  only 
road  which  leads  to  eternal  happiness?  Notwith- 
standing this  is  in  accordance  with  the  simplest  prin- 
ciples of  the  Christian  religion,  yet  too  many  of  its 
professors  are  severely  scrupulous  about  their  pro- 
fessions, and  their  observance  of  forms,  which  are 
merely  the  chaff  of  religion,  and  strangely  careless 
about  their  practice,  which  is  its  real  essence,  and 
Avhile  it  is  the  corner-stone  of  their  faith  that  God 
will  judge  them  according  to  the  deeds  done  in  the 
body,  and  not  according  to  empty  professions,  they 


RELIGIOUS   FANCIES  AND    FOLLIES.         309 

present  before  man  the  most  righteous  professions, 
and  before  God  the  most  unrighteous  deeds. 

"  Give,  and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you,"  says  their 
profession ;  "  Get  all  you  can,  and  keep  all  you 
get,"  says  their  practice.  "Whatsoever  ye  would 
that  men  should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  unto 
them,"  says  their  profession;  "Take  care  of  number 
one,"  says  their  practice.  Thus,  while  their  profes- 
sions are  entirely  orthodox  their  practice  is  com- 
pletely heterodox.  Christians  seem  to  place  the  most 
entire  confidence  in  the  forgiving  mercy  of  God,  and 
in  the  never-failing  efficacy  of  prayer.  If  we  are 
to  take  the  actions  of  some  of  them  as  the  test 
of  their  belief,  they  certainly  believe  that  prayer  is 
the  means  by  which  God  has  granted  to  the  pro- 
fessors of  religion  the  license  to  profess  the  saint 
and  act  the  sinner.  Day  after  day  they  openly  vio- 
late the  plainest  and  most  essential  precepts  of 
Christianity,  and  then,  in  humble  prayer  and  peni- 
tential twang,  they  ask  His  forgiveness,  thus  reduc- 
ing it  to  a  systematic  business  to  violate  His  revealed 
will,  and  then  ask  His  forgiveness  for  it.  Now,  it 
may  be  that  we  are  overruled  by  a  supreme  Being, 
to  whom  such  a  course  of  conduct  is  particularly 
gratifying,  and  that  He  loves  to  see  men  do  wrong, 
just  to  get  to  forgive  them.  All  that  religion  re- 
quires may  be,  just  to  sin  and  pray  in  the  same 
proportion,  and  perhaps  God  instituted  prayer  for 
the  express  purpose  of  enabling  man  to  sin  with 
impunity.  This  may  be  all  so,  and  if  it  is  so,  this 
class  Of  Christians  is  right,  and  by  dint  of  frequent 
praying,  they  may  safely  get  along  with  a  great  deal 
of  hard  sinning,  and  they  may  even  violate  the  prin- 
ciples of  common  honesty  and  morality,  and  com- 
promise the  matter  by  praying. 


310          MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

As,  for  instance,  one  of  them  has  made  a  "good 
trade,"  that  is,  he  has  given  in  exchange  for  some 
property  some  thing  of  less  value,  or  perhaps  he  has 
taken  advantage  of  the  ignorance,  or  distress  of 
some  person,  and  purchased  his  property  for  less 
than  its  real  value,  which  kind  of  trading  many  pro- 
fessing Christians  do  not  object  to  do,  provided  it 
can  be  done  in  a  business  way ;  and,  with  means  thus 
obtained,  he  spreads  his  table  with  all  the  luxuries 
of  the  season,  and  then,  with  a  face  as  long  as  the 
catalogue  of  his  own  transgressions,  and  as  solemn 
as  if  he  had  lost  all  his  friends,  and  a  part  of  his 
money,  he  lisps  forth  in  canting  tones,  "  0  Lord,  we 
thank  thee  that  thou  hast  supplied  us  with  all  the 
necessaries  and  comforts  of  life,"  etc.,  when  the  fact 
is  that  the  Lord  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
the  rascally  transactions  by  which  these  necessaries 
and  comforts  were  obtained.  If  any  one  charge 
that  we  are  speaking  irreverently  of  sacred  things, 
we  say  in  reply  that,  that  if  such  folly  and  hypocrisy 
as  this  is  sacred,  we  plead  guilty. 

Many  persons,  also,  seem  to  place  great  reliance  in 
the  saving  efficacy  of  church-going.  They  seem 
to  think  that  going  to  church,  like  charity,  will  cover 
a  multitude  of  sins,  and  that  all  that  religion  requires 
is  a  regular  attendance  at  the  house  of  worship. 
They  act  as  though  they  had  made  a  regular  contract 
with  their  Creator,  the  conditions  of  which  are,  that 
they  shall  attend  church  regularly,  and  in  consid- 
eration of  this  they  are  hereafter  to  receive  the  re- 
wards of  religion,  and,  of  course,  according  to  this 
arrangement,  it  matters  but  little  with  what  intention 
they  go  to  church ;  whether  the  ladies  to  see  the 
gentlemen,  and  the  gentlemen  to  see  the  ladies,  and 
all  to  look  at  each  others'  little  bonnets  and  big 
skirts ;  just  so  they  perform  their  part  of  the  con- 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES.         311 

tract.  Now,  if  these  assiduous  Christians  have  any 
such  arrangement,  we  would  advise  that  they  have  it 
reduced  to  writing,  and  signed  and  sealed  according 
to  law ;  for  when  they  come  to  ask  their  Creator  to 
perform  his  part  of  the  contract,  he  might  plead  the 
statute  of  limitations  against  them,  and  thus  they 
would  be  cheated  out  of  all  their  honest  labor  in  His 
vineyard  here  below. 

What  a  fine  piece  of  amusement  it  would  be  if 
one  could  read  the  various  thoughts  which  are  engag- 
ing the  attention  of  a  Christian  congregation  while 
professedly  engaged  in  worship.  He  would  find 
young  ladies  very  scrupulously  conforming  to  the 
ceremony  of  kneeling  in  prayer,  and  peeping  between 
their  fingers  at  the  "love  of  a  bonnet,"  about  the 
size  of  a  saucer,  stuck  on  the  back  of  her  neighbor's 
head ;  he  would  find  others  intently  admiring  the 
magnificent  dimensions  of  an  eighteen  feet  hoop, 
spreading  the  ample  folds  of  an  extensive  stock  of 
skirts,  and  all  this  decorated  with  a  covering  of  dry 
goods  of  costly  texture,  the  colors  of  which  are 
more  grand  and  gorgeous  than  the  national  stars  and 
stripes.  Then,  again,  he  would  find  young  gentle- 
men of  most  commendable  deportment,  whose  re- 
fractory minds  are  unfortunately  diverted  from  reli- 
gious subjects  by  the  array  of  beauty  around  them, 
and  which  they  just  happened  to  see,  and  are  en- 
gaged in  admiring,  instead  of  repenting  of  their 
many  sins.  And  there  are  older  sinners  in  the 
pews  whose  refractory  minds  are  not  completely  un- 
der the  control  of  their  religious  sentiments ;  and 
while  they  are  engaged  in  their  religious  services,  on 
Sunday,  they  are  thinking  about  their  money-making 
operations  for  Monday ;  or,  probably,  maturing 
some  plan  by  which  they  may  make  a  '"  good  trade 


312  MODERN    FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

with  their  neighbor,  and  by  this  means  advance  their 
respectability,  both  in  the  church  and  out  of  it. 

There  is  religion  in  sacred  music.  Its  sweet 
sounds  awaken  the  purest  emotions  of  the  human 
mind.  It  recalls  the  fugitive  soul  from  its  wander- 
ings amid  the  temporal  objects  arid  purposes  of  life, 
and  strengthens  it  in  its  faltering  efforts  to  ascend  to 
the  sublime  contemplation  of  the  infinite  goodness 
of  God ;  and  thus  while  reveling  in  the  regions  of 
celestial  beauty,  it  fervently  pours  out  its  oblation  of 
sincerest  gratitude  and  thankfulness.  0  !  what  can 
be  more  consoling  to  the  struggling  soul  than  the 
solemn  strains  of  sacred  music,  when  they  are  de- 
voutly poured  forth  from  every  lip  of  a  worshiping 
congregation ;  and  every  member  feels  that  it  is  the 
voice  of  the  soul  speaking  to  its  God  ?  But  how  far, 
indeed,  from  fulfilling  this  sacred  office  is  the  fash- 
ionable music  which  we  hear  in  our  fashionable 
churches  ?  It  has  ceased  to  be  a  religious  service, 
and  has  been  transformed  into  a  scientific,  artistic 
performance.  It  no  longer  invokes  the  purest  emo- 
tions of  religion,  but  only  excites  the  admiration  of 
the  audience  by  its  intricate  difficulties,  and  as  an 
achievement  of  science  and  art.  The  difference  in 
the  opera  and  the  church  consists  merely  in  the  word. 
The  professional  music  performers,  frequently  re- 
ceiving pay  for  their  services,  take  their  position 
separately  from  the  congregation,  and  perform  such 
music  as  they  think  will  be  most  popular  with  their 
audience,  and  have  the  impudence  and  impiety  to 
call  this  worshiping  God. 

Should  there  happen  to  be  a  pious  Christian  in 
such  a  congregation  who  is  so  unfortunate  as  to 
be  unable  to  worship  in  a  fashionable  and  scientific 
manner,  it  is  not  expected  that  he  will  mingle  his 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES.         313 

simple  devotions  with  the  high-wrought  harmonies 
of  the  scientific  worshipers,  for  this  would  spoil  the 
whole  performance.  It  must  be  supposed  that  the 
Creator  has  a  very  refined  and  cultivated  ear  for 
music,  and  that  He  is  exceedingly  gratified  by  this 
modern  improvement,  by  which  they  have  changed 
His  simple  and  humble  services  of  worship  into 
grand  concerts  and  scientific  musical  entertainments. 
Science  and  not  sincerity  is  the  quality  which  is 
most  admired  in  modern  church  music.  If  a  sin- 
cere Christian,  who  is  not  a  scientific  singer,  feels 
like  pouring  forth  the  emotions  of  his  soul  in  sacred 
song,  all  that  he  has  to  do  is  to  hold  his  tongue,  and 
listen  to  the  concert  which  is  being  given  by  the  per- 
formers in  the  gallery.  Strange  that  he  should  sup- 
pose that  his  Creator  would  accept  his  sincere  and 
devout  worship,  unless  it  was  offered  according  to 
the  rules  of  scientific  music.  Go  learn  progressive 
Christianity,  you  antiquated  piece  of  old-fashioned 
sincerity,  go  get  your  music  teacher  to  learn  you 
how  to  worship  God.  What  a  source  of  annoyance 
must  those  old-fashioned  primitive  Christians  have 
been  to  their  fashionable  and  scientific  Creator,  when 
they  had  no  more  respect  for  his  feelings  than  to 
worship  him  according  to  the  dictates  of  true  re- 
ligion, and  had  not  sense  enough  to  hire  some  body 
else  to  sing  their  praises  to  him,  because  they  could 
not  do  it  scientifically  themselves  ? 

Religious  emotions  can  not  be  regulated  by  fashion 
or  science;  they  fade  and  wither  away  under  the  chill- 
ing influence ;  and  where  religious  services  are  made 
fashionable  and  scientific,  all  the  pure  emotions  of 
religion  are  destroyed,  and  in  their  stead  we  have 
nothing  but  the  love  of  gaudy  display  and  the  ob- 
servance of  empty  forms  and  ceremonies.  But  it 
will  be  said  that  the  congregation  are  not  prohibited 
27 


314  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

from  taking  part  in  the  singing,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
they  are  desired  to  do  so.  It  is  true  there  is  gen- 
erally no  direct  prohibition,  but  there  is  what  amounts 
to  the  same  thing,  when  the  church  music  is  rendered 
so  intricate  and  scientific  that  no  person  who  is  not 
learned  in  the  science  of  music  can  take  part  in  the 
worship.  True,  good  singing  is  a  very  important 
part  of  worship,  and  therefore  every  Christian  should 
understand  the  elementary  principles  of  vocal  har- 
mony; but  the  introduction  into  religious  worship 
of  the  highest  and  most  intricate  order  of  musical 
science,  the  attainment  of  which  is  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  great  mass  of  mankind,  is  a  sin  against  God 
and  man.  It  deprives  the  mass  of  Christians  of  one 
of  the  most  efficient  means  of  worship,  and  one  of 
the  purest  enjoyments  of  religion.  Nothing  can  be 
more  obvious  than  that  if  this  part  of  worship  is  to 
accord  with  the  spirit  of  true  Christianity,  as  revealed 
by  its  divine  Founder,  it  must  be  kept  plain  and 
simple;  yet  the  more  intricate  and  scientific  it  is 
rendered,  the  more  it  is  admired  by  professing 
Christians. 

The  spirit  of  devout  worship  requires  that  all 
should  join  in  this  exercise,  and  that  it  should  by 
no  means  be  made  a  trial  of  skill  and  a  display  of 
science,  and  when  this  is  the  case,  it  can  no  longer 
claim  to  be  a  religious  service,  for  the  singers  are 
wholly  engaged  in  observing  the  intricacies  of  musical 
science,  and  the  audience  in  listening  to  the  scientific 
performance;  and  then,  who  is  worshiping  God? 
The  custom  of  devolving  upon  a  few  scientific  per- 
formers the  discharge  of  this  duty,  which  true  religion 
requires  that  each  person  should  discharge  for  him- 
self, is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  an  attempt  to 
worship  God  by  proxy.  We  may  employ  an  other  to 
discharge  for  us  almost  every  other  duty  in  life,  but 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES.         315 

by  no  means  can  we  employ  an  other  to  worship  God 
in  our  stead.  It  is  an  inalienable  personal  duty 
which  He  requires  of  every  human  being.  It  relates 
to  God  alone,  and  to  him  all  human  deception  and 
falsehood  are  perfectly  transparent,  and  therefore  it 
is  impossible  to  impose  upon  him  as  genuine  religion 
our  hypocritical  professions.  "O  praise  the  Lord, 
all  ye  nations."  Let  every  Christian  feel  that  it  is 
his  sacred  duty  to  join  in  this  part  of  the  worship, 
and  pour  forth  the  gratitude  of  his  soul  in  thank- 
fulness to  God,  untrammeled  by  the  chilling  fetters 
of  fashion  or  science,  and  join  in  the  soul-inspiring 
strains  of  sacred  song,  until  his  pure  and  heartfelt 
devotions,  clothed  in  the  joyous  garbs  of  sacred  har- 
mony, shall  reverberate  around  the  Eternal  Throne. 

An  opinion  seems  to  prevail  very  generally  that 
religion  requires  an  austere,  and  kind  of  monastic 
course  of  life,  and  that  it  peremptorily  forbids  the 
enjoyment  of  all  the  lighter  and  more  blithesome 
pleasures  and  gratifications  of  our  nature,  and  that 
it  consists  in  a  painful  and  unceasing  effort  to  over- 
come every  impulse  and  feeling  of  our  more  joyous 
emotions,  thus  transforming  man  into  a  solemn  and 
melancholy  being,  depriving  himself  of  all  the  legiti- 
mate pleasures  of  this  world,  in  order  that  he  may 
be  happy  in  the  next.  Such  an  opinion  was  worthy 
of  the  ages  of  convents  and  monasteries,  but  it  is 
certainly  unworthy  of  an  age  in  which  the  people 
profess  to  have  shaken  off  the  fetters  of  superstition, 
and  are  enjoying  all  the  blessings  of  untrammeled 
religious  freedom,  amid  the  blaze  of  the  light  and 
knowledge  which  we  at  present  possess.  Such  a 
system  of  religion  defeats  itself,  by  destroying  the 
nice  equilibrium  in  which  the  Creator  has  balanced 
the  system  of  human  nature,  and  which  must  be  pre- 


316  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

served  in  order  to  secure  the  harmonious  action  of  all 
the  faculties  and  powers  which  enter  into  and  com- 
pose the  physical,  intellectual  and  moral  constitution 
of  man.  True  happiness  and  true  religion  are  in- 
separable companions,  and  true  happiness  can  be 
attained  only  by  preserving  this  natural  equilibrium, 
therefore  the  idea  that  true  religion  can  be  attained 
by  destroying  it  is  simply  absurd. 

There  are  many  sincere  Christians  who  have  fallen 
into  this  error,  and  suppose  that  in  order  to  reach 
the  most  perfect  state  of  religious  existence,  it  is 
necessary  to  deny  themselves  all  those  pleasures  and 
gratifications  which  do  not  contribute  directly  to  the 
development  of  their  religious  nature.  The  error  of 
this  lies  in  the  supposition  that  man  is  wholly  and 
exclusively  a  moral  or  religious  being,  whereas,  in 
fact,  he  is  a  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  being, 
and  each  of  these  distinct  natures  requires  its  pro- 
per and  legitimate  exercise  and  gratification,  and 
happiness  and  religion  depend  upon  their  harmonious 
development.  Why  did  God  endow  man  with  facul- 
ties and  desires  adapted  to  the  pleasures  and  enjoy- 
ments of  this  world,  unless  he  intended  that  they 
should  be  gratified  ?  The  contrary  doctrine  is  found- 
ed upon  the  supposition  that  God  either  could  not 
create  man  without  endowing  him  with  faculties  and 
desires,  the  gratification  of  which  is  necessarily 
wrong,  or  that  he  endowed  man  with  these  evil  pro- 
pensities, and  then  forbid  him  to  gratify  them,  for 
the  express  purpose  of  rendering  him  miserable. 
The  one  hypothesis  denies  his  Omnipotence,  the 
other  his  beneficence. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  argument,  we  shall  make 
two  divisions  of  human  nature ;  the  one  we  shall  call 
the  physical  nature  of  man,  and  the  other  his  spirit- 
ual nature.  By  the  one,  we  mean  those  faculties 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES.          317 

and  desires  which  relate  to  the  enjoyment  of  man  as 
a  human  being,  by  the  other  those  sentiments  which 
more  directly  relate  to  his  welfare  as  an  immortal 
being.  The  one  may  be  considered  the  physical  and 
intellectual,  and  the  other  the  moral  and  intellectual. 
Persons  whose  piety  is  entitled  to  respect,  are  dis- 
posed to  consider  the  latter  as  the  only  sentiments 
of  the  human  mind  which  should  be  cultivated,  and, 
consequently,  they  engage  in  a  disastrous  warfare 
with  their  own  nature,  by  depriving  the  faculties  of 
the  former  of  their  proper  exercise  and  gratification. 
Although  man's  spiritual  nature  may  very  plausibly 
be  considered  as  of  the  most  importance,  yet  they 
are  both  of  equal  importance;  for  his  spiritual  nature 
can  not  be  properly  cultivated,  unless  his  physical 
nature  be  also  properly  cultivated,  and  hence  the 
only  means  by  which  man  can  attain  true  happiness 
as  a  physical  and  as  a  spiritual  being,  is  by  the  proper 
gratification  and  harmonious  development  of  all  the 
faculties  and  sentiments  with  which  his  Creator  has 
endowed  him.  :>»K*. 

But,  will  any  person  deny  that  God  has  endowed 
man  with  faculties  and  propensities,  the  gratification 
of  which  relate  exclusively  to  his  enjoyment  as  a 
human  being,  faculties  which  are  the  means  of  his 
happiness  as  a  mortal  being.  And  if  God,  by  con- 
ferring them,  has  thus  unequivocally  expressed  his 
will,  that  they  shall  be  properly  gratified,  does  re- 
ligion require  that  His  Avill  shall  be  violated,  by  de- 
nying to  them  this  gratification?  This  is  absurd, 
and  hence  it  follows,  that  those  who  attempt  to  sup- 
press the  natural  desires  of  either  division  of  their 
nature,  only  attempt  to  defeat  the  evident  designs  of 
God.  But  the  strict  religionists  say,  that  it  is  neces- 
sary to  deny  ourselves  of  the  fleeting  pleasures  and 
enjoyments  of  this  world,  in  order  to  enjoy  the 


318          MODERN   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

eternal  pleasures  of  the  next.  Ah !  do  they  worship 
a  God  who  has  made  present  misery  the  condition  of 
future  happiness?  The  doctrine  amounts  to  this, 
that  God  has  endowed  man  with  a  nature,  the  slightest 
gratification  of  which  is  contrary  to  religion,  that  is, 
we  will  be  punished  hereafter  for  gratifying  those 
desires  which  Himself  has  implanted  in  our  nature, 
that  is,  God  will  punish  man  for  what  is  the  fault  of 
his  Creator. 

But  while  we  are  speaking  of  the  pleasures  and 
enjoyments  of  this  world,  we  must  not  be  understood 
as  advocating  mere  sensualism,  or  that  man  should 
become  the  votary  of  worldly  pleasure.  This  is  the 
very  principle  which  we  have  repeatedly  condemned. 
The  excessive  gratification  of  any  faculty,  whether 
it  be  of  our  physical  or  spiritual  nature,  is  its  per- 
version, and,  consequently,  is  vice.  The  true  theory 
is  the  excessive  gratification  of  none  but  the  proper 
and  harmonious  gratification  of  all  the  faculties  of 
human  nature,  and  when  human  nature  is  thus  devel- 
oped, the  spiritual  nature  of  man  exercises  a  natural 
supremacy  over  his  physical  nature,  and  thus  his 
lower  faculties,  or  those  which  relate  to  the  enjoy- 
ments of  this  world,  will  be  gratified  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  moral  and  intellectual  sentiments,  and 
thus  their  abuse  will  be  avoided.  With  just  as  much 
reason  might  we  deny  that  God  created  man  at  all, 
as  to  deny  that  he  endowed  him  with  this  twofold 
nature,  for,  wherever  he  exists,  there  we  find  him 
with  the  natural  desire  to  gratify  these  faculties  of 
his  physical  nature,  and  it  always  requires  painful 
and  vigilant  watchfulness,  to  prevent  the  operation 
of  this  natural  law,  upon  the  part  of  those  who  deem 
it  their  religious  duty  to  thwart  the  designs  of  God. 
by  preventing  the  gratification  of  half  their  nature. 

But  if  it  be  urged  that  excessive  indulgence  in 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES.         319 

the  pleasures  and  enjoyments  of  this  world  has 
caused  much  wickedness  and  depravity,  and  produced 
much  suffering  and  misery,  we  willingly  admit  the 
fact.  But,  at  the  same  time,  we  shall  ask  it  to  be 
admitted,  upon  the  evidence  of  all  history,  that  the 
perversion  of  man's  religious  sentiments  has  led  to 
more  wrong  and  oppression,  to  more  suffering  and 
outrage,  than  even  the  perversion  of  the  faculties 
of  his  physical  nature.  The  fact  is,  that  all  the 
faculties  of  human  nature  may  be  perverted,  and  lead 
to  great  evil,  and,  therefore,  this  can  not  be  used  as 
an  argument  against  the  proper  gratification  of  any 
of  them.  If  it  be  argued  that,  if  we  engage  in  the 
pleasures  and  amusements  of  life,  we  are  frequently 
induced  to  indulge  in  them  to  excess,  and  are  thus 
carried  into  the  current  of  vice,  and,  therefore,  we 
should  avoid  them  entirely,  it  may  be  argued,  with 
equal  force,  that  the  exercise  of  the  religious  senti- 
ment of  man  frequently  produces  error  and  super- 
stition instead  of  religion,  and  leads  to  cruelty  and 
bloodshed  instead  of  to  "peace  and  good  will  to 
man;"  and,  therefore,  man  should  not  gratify  his 
religious  nature.  Hence,  if  the  force  of  the  argu- 
ment depends  upon  the  amount  of  evil  which  has 
been  produced  by  the  perversion  of  each,  it  holds 
stronger  against  the  gratification  of  our  spiritual 
than  our  physical  nature,  and  if  it  is  wrong  to 
gratify  the  faculties  and  propensities  of  our  physical 
nature  because  their  perversion  produces  evil,  it  is 
wrong  to  practice  religion  because  its  perversion 
produces  evil. 

Man  is  evidently  placed  in  this  world  in  a  proba- 
tionary state ;  he  is  endowed  with  faculties  and  sen- 
timents which  are  strengthened  and  developed  by 
his  course  of  conduct  in  this  life;  those  sentiments 
which  constitute  his  spiritual  or  moral  nature  are 


320  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

the  immortal  principle  of  man;  and  hence,  it  is 
our  only  reasonable  conclusion,  that  the  condition 
of  his  immortal  state  of  existence  will  be  determined 
by  the  manner  in  which  these  sentiments  are  devel- 
oped in  the  present  state  of  being.  But  man  could 
not  enjoy  happiness  in  the  present  state  of  being  by 
living  solely  in  anticipation  of  the  enjoyment  of  hap- 
piness in  a  future  state  of  existence  ;  and,  therefore, 
the  Creator,  in  his  goodness  and  mercy,  has  endowed 
man  with  certain  faculties  and  propensities,  the  grat- 
ification of  which  relate  exclusively  to  the  pleasures 
and  enjoyments  of  this  world.  But  the  professors 
of  religion  of  the  present  day  pronounce  most  of 
the  pleasures  and  amusements  which  afford  legitimate 
gratification  to  these  faculties  to  be  sinful.  They 
deviate  as  far  from  true  religion  by  their  over-strict- 
ness in  this  particular,  as  they  do  by  their  want  of 
strictness  in  other  particulars.  The  Creator  has 
implanted  within  our  nature  the  germs  of  gladness 
and  joy;  he  has  prepared  all  the  means  by  which 
we  may  enjoy  ourselves  as  human  beings,  without 
disqualifying  us  for  enjoyment  in  a  future  state  of 
existence.  By  endowing  us  with  two  distinct  na- 
tures, he  has  qualified  us  for  the  enjoyment  of  the 
present  and  a  future  state  of  existence,  and  the 
proper  gratification  of  each  of  these  natures  is  the 
only  means  by  which  we  can  secure  present  and 
eternal  happiness.  But  while  God  bids  us  thus  to 
be  happy,  our  severe  religionists,  with  an  awful  so- 
lemnity, and  a  fearful  frown,  say  no.  This  is  all 
wrong.  God  did  wrong  by  endowing  us  with  facul- 
ties for  the  enjoyment  of  this  world,  and,  therefore, 
we  must  correct  his  errors.  The  only  way  to  be 
religious  and  happy  is  by  perverting  both  our  na- 
tures; our  physical  nature  by  depriving  it  entirely 
of  legitimate  gratification,  and  our  spiritual  nature 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES.         321 

by  its  excessive  gratification.  We  must  cease  to  be 
human  beings,  and  transform  ourselves  into  bogus 
angels.  The  young  lady,  as  she  joyously  and  grace- 
fully glides  through  the  beautiful  quadrille,  affording 
virtuous  and  delightful  gratification  to  her  physical 
nature,  without  violating,  in  the  slightest  degree, 
any  principle  of  true  morality  or  religion,  is  only 
committing  heinous  sin  by  her  gladness  and  joy. 
There  is  no  recreation  or  amusement  which  affords 
more  innocent  and  harmless  exercise  and  gratifica- 
tion to  qualities  of  our  nature,  which  are  essential 
to  true  happiness,  than  the  properly-conducted  co- 
tillion party ;  false  religion  alone  condemns  it ;  our 
physical  nature  requires  this,  or  some  equivalent 
gratification,  and  there  is  no  other  amusement  so 
innocent  which  can  well  supply  its  place.  But  we 
generally  find  that  those  who  condemn  this  virtuous 
amusement,  think  that  they  are  traveling  the  "  straight 
and  narrow  way,"  by  devoting  all  their  energies  to 
the  accumulation  of  wealth,  thus  violating  every  prin- 
ciple of  true  religion  and  sound  morality.  We  fear 
that  when  they  get  to  the  end  of  their  pilgrimage, 
they  will  find  that  they  have  laid  more  treasures  in 
this  world  than  in  heaven. 

In  no  age  of  the  world  has  man  attempted  to 
gratify  exclusively  his  religious  nature,  and  deny  all 
gratification  to  his  nature  as  a  human  being,  but 
that  it  resulted  in  his  overthrow  as  a  rational  being, 
and  the  violence  done  his  physical  nature  invariably 
defeated  his  aims  at  spiritual  perfection.  We  have 
only  to  refer  to  the  monastic  institutions  of  the  mid- 
dle ages,  where  their  inmates  withdrew  entirely  from 
the  pleasures  and  gratifications  of  worldly  enjoy- 
ments, and  attempted  to  suppress  entirely  the  de- 
sires of  their  physical  nature,  in  order  that  they 
might  devote  themselves  exclusively  to  the  cultiva- 


322      MODERN"  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

tion  of  their  spiritual  nature,  and  thus  become  ex- 
clusively religious  beings.  Were  they  successful? 
Such  a  course  of  life  overturned  the  very  founda- 
tion upon  which  nature  stands,  and  which  sustains 
the  fabric  of  all  true  happiness  and  religion,  and  they 
became  worthless  and  miserable  beings,  and  the  last 
emotion  of  true  religious  sentiment  was  driven  from 
their  minds,  which  became  the  abodes  of  the  gross- 
est fanaticism  and  superstition.  As  human  beings, 
they  were  actuated  by  none  of  those  emotions  which 
ennoble  human  nature ;  they  were  lost  to  all  those 
sentiments  which  elevate  the  human  mind ;  as  relig- 
ious beings,  they  were  the  most  morose,  gloomy,  and 
melancholy  devotees  that  ever  cursed  the  name  of 
religion,  and  no  gladdening  ray  of  either  physical  or 
spiritual  joy  ever  penetrated  the  gloomy  darkness 
which  shrouded  their  souls,  while  their  daily  conduct 
displayed  that  absurd  austerity  and  disgusting  ap- 
pearance which  true  religion,  above  all  other  things, 
most  abhors. 

Such  is  necessarily  the  tendency  of  every  system 
of  religion  which  over-exercises  the  faculties  of  our 
religious  nature,  and  unduly  restrains  the  gratifica- 
tion of  those  of  our  physical  nature.  As  soon  as 
we  attempt  to  excessively  develop  either  of  these 
distinct  natures,  we  destroy  the  balance  of  our  nature, 
and  prevent  its  harmonious  action,  and  that  moment 
our  capacity  to  achieve  eminent  success  is  at  an 
end.  If  we  refuse  the  proper  gratification  to  the 
virtuous  desires  of  our  physical  nature,  and  attempt 
to  develop  exclusively  the  sentiments  of  our  spir- 
itual nature,  bigotry,  and  superstition  are  the  inev- 
itable results,  and  we  lose  all  the  sweetest  consola- 
tions of  religion,  and,  following  its  shadows  and 
non-essential  forma,  we  gradually  sink  deeper  into 
the  depths  of  withering  asceticism,  and  make  it  » 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES    AND  FOLLIES.        323 

conscientious  duty  to  pursue  that  course  of  life 
which  is  most  painful  and  revolting  to  all  the  unper- 
verted  principles  of  our  nature,  as  they  were  be- 
stowed upon  us  by  the  hand  of  God.  If  we  neg- 
lect to  gratify  and  cultivate  the  sentiments  of  our 
spiritual  nature,  and  unduly  gratify  our  physical 
desires,  we  reach  the  opposite  extreme  of  our  per- 
verted nature,  and,  by  gradually  yielding  to  the 
temptations  of  sensual  gratifications,  we  are  carried 
into  the  swift  current  of  vice  and  degradation.  Thus 
either  extreme  inevitably  produces  confusion  in  the 
systematic  combination  of  our  nature,  and  destroys 
its  harmonious  action,  and  thus  renders  ineffectual 
our  efforts  to  accomplish  good.  Harmony  is  the 
universal  law  which  God  has  infused  into  all  the 
principles  of  nature,  and  hence  man  can  attain  hap- 
piness either  as  a  physical  or  as  a  spiritual  being 
only  by  the  harmonious  gratification  and  develop- 
ment of  all  the  sentiments  and  propensities  which 
his  Creator  has  implanted  in  the  system  of  human 
nature. 

Now,  every  pleasure  or  amusement  which  affords 
gratification  to  a  natural  and  unperverted  faculty  of 
the  mind,  is  innocent  and  virtuous,  and  every  sys- 
tem of  religion  which  condemns  such  pleasures  and 
amusements,  upon  the  ground  that  they  may  be 
abused,  and  result  in  evil,  is  false,  for  it  practically 
condemns,  upon  the  isame  grounds,  the  gratification 
of  every  faculty  of  the  human  mind,  for  they  may  all 
be  abused,  and  produce  evil.  But  our  professors  of 
religion  assert  that  these  pleasures  and  amusements 
divert  the  attention  of  the  mind  from  the  considera- 
tion of  more  serious  and  important  subjects.  Just 
precisely  what  we  want.  He  who  aims  to  keep  the 
mind  constantly  and  intensely  fixed  upon  religious 
subjects  necessarily  becomes  a  bigot  and  a  fanatic, 


324  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

superstitious,  but  not  truly  religious.  It  has  already 
been  shown,  that  if  we  excessively  gratify  any  faculty 
of  our  nature,  and  unduly  restrain  the  gratification 
of  others,  it  destroys  the  equilibrium  of  our  nature, 
and  thus  we  destroy  our  capacity  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  good.  The  excessive  exercise  and  cultiva- 
tion of  our  moral  and  intellectual  nature  destroy  our 
physical  health;  the  excessive  gratification  of  our 
physical  nature  destroys  the  health  and  strength  of 
our  moral  and  intellectual  nature.  Hence  they  must 
be  harmoniously  gratified,  and,  as  the  moral  and  in- 
tellectual sentiments  exercise  a  natural  supremacy 
in  every  properly  developed  mind,  the  propensities 
of  our  physical  nature  must  be  gratified  under  their 
guidance  and  control,  and  when  this  is  the  case,  there 
can  be  no  danger  of  our  physical  pleasures  degrad- 
ing themselves  into  vice.  Would  man  follow  that 
course  through  life  which  would  afford  the  proper 
exercise  and  gratification  to  all  the  sentiments  and 
propensities  of  his  nature,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
avoid  the  abuse  and  perversion  of  them  on  the 
other,  he  would  be  walking  precisely  in  the  path 
which  his  Creator  has  marked  out  for  him,  and 
would  soon  reach  the  highest  state  of  happiness  and 
perfection,  both  as  a  physical  and  as  a  spiritual  be- 
ing, which  is  attainable  by  man  as  a  human  being. 

It  is  in  accordance  with  this  view  of  human  nature 
that  we  are  told,  in  the  scriptures  that  there  is  a  time 
for  all  things,  i.  e.,  that  there  is  a  time  for  the  grati- 
fication of  our  physical  nature,  and  a  time  for  the 
gratification  and  cultivation  of  our  spiritual  nature. 
But,  we  are  told,  that  it  is  written  in  the  scriptures, 
that  we  must  deny  ourselves,  take  up  our  daily  cross 
and  follow  Christ.  True.  But,  are  we  to  understand 
that  when  we  are  called  upon  to  deny  ourselves,  it 
is  meant  that  we  shall  deny  ourselves  of  the  proper 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES    AND  FOLLIES.         325 

gratification  of  those  faculties  with  which  God  has 
endowed  us  ?  When  it  is  said,  that  we  shall  take  up 
our  daily  cross,  is  it  meant,  that  we  shall  take  it  up 
and  with  it  break  all  the  natural  laws  by  which  God 
governs  us  as  human  beings  ?  Is  it  not  rather  meant 
that  we  shall  deny  ourselves  of  the  abuse  of  all  our 
natural  faculties,  and  thus  avoid  the  consequent 
vices  ?  Are  we  not  rather  called  upon  to  deny  our- 
selves of  the  abuse  of  our  religious  sentiment,  which 
has  led  to  more  evil  and  wickedness,  than  the  abuse 
of  any  other  faculty  of  the  human  mind  ?  Is  it  meant 
by  taking  up  the  daily  cross,  that  we  shall  deprive 
ourselves  of  all  the  healthy  and  invigorating  pleas- 
ures and  enjoyments  of  our  physical  nature,  which  is 
the  only  secure  foundation  upon  which  we  can  place 
our  religious  welfare  ?  Is  it  meant,  that  in  order  to 
follow  Christ,  it  is  necessary  to  convert  the  Christian 
world  into  one  vast,  gloomy,  solemn  monastery,  the 
disconsolate  inmates  of  which,  as  they  move  about 
with  faltering  steps,  and  haggard  features,  and  dis- 
tressed appearance,  but  too  plainly  indicate  their 
true  condition,  as  they  are  struggling  and  suffering 
amid  the  wreck  of  human  nature  ?  Is  it  meant  that 
the  Christian  religion  is  intended  to  be  a  system  of 
cold  and  blighting  asceticism  ? 

If  man  was  intended  to  be  happy  in  the  practice 
of  such  a  religion,  the  God  of  nature  made  an  awful 
blunder  in  his  work,  when  He  created  him ;  for  man 
never  has  nor  never  can  secure  true  physical  or  spi- 
ritual happiness  by  the  practice  of  such  religion. 
By  such  false  constructions  as  these,  our  strict  reli- 
gionists give  to  many  passages  of  scripture  such 
meanings  as  are  completely  destructive  of  the  best 
interests  of  religion.  If  there  is  a  single  passage  in 
the  Bible  which,  when  we  arrive  at  its  true  meaning, 
is  contrary  to  the  practical  workings  of  nature,  that 


326  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

passage  is  utterly  false,  and  not  of  divine  origin,  but 
of  human  invention.  But,  what  evil  genius  has  pos- 
sessed these  strict  constructionists,  •which  induces 
them,  when  a  scriptural  passage  admits  of  an  easy 
and  rational  construction,  which  accords  entirely  with 
the  constitution  of  human  nature,  to  try  to  force 
upon  it  some  terrible  and  tormenting  construction, 
•which  is  entirely  contrary  to  nature's  laws  ?  Is  it 
their  aim  to  make  religion  some  thing  terrible  and 
torturing  to  human  nature  ?  and  must  man  writhe 
and  groan  in  the  pillory  of  religion,  and  endure  the 
punishment  of  self-inflicted  torments,  by  depriving 
himself  of  the  gratification  of  those  desires  wliich 
his  Creator  gave  him,  in  order  to  make  him  an  accept- 
able offering  before  that  Creator  ?  When  a  passage 
of  scripture  pleads  with  all  the  eloquence  of  reason 
and  consistency  for  a  construction  which  agrees  with 
the  laws  of  human  nature,  why  do  they  persist  in  en- 
forcing upon  it  a  construction  which  not  only  strikes 
a  deadly  blow  at  human  happiness,  but  also  at  the. 
beneficence  of  God  himself. 

Does  not  man  feel  more  grateful  for  favors  be- 
stowed than  for  wrongs  inflicted  ?  How  much  more 
sincerely  thankful  then  would  he  feel  toward  his 
Creator,  could  he  discover  in  all  the  works  of  nature 
only  designs  to  favor  him,  and  in  the  revealed  word 
of  God,  nothing  but  an  aim  to  promote  his  happi- 
ness and  enjoyment,  which  is  certainly  the  case,  and 
not  as  some  of  our  modern  religionists  would  have 
it,  that  his  Creator  has  bestowed  upon  him  natural 
desires  which  are  essentially  wrong,  and  which  he  is 
required  to  overcome  by  refusing  them  all  gratifica- 
tion. The  consciousness  of  having  received  favors, 
always  awakens  in  the  human  mind  the  purest  emo- 
tions of  gratitude  and  thankfulness  ;  but  the  convic- 
tion of  having  been  wronged  never  fails  to  engender 


RELIGIOUS   FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES.         327 

feelings  of  hatred  and  revenge.  How  much  more  sin- 
cere and  heartfelt  then  would  he  the  religion  which, 
springing  from  the  contemplation  of  the  Creator  as 
a  supremely  beneficent  Being,  all  of  whose  designs 
toward  man  are  founded  in  infinite  goodness  and 
mercy,  than  the  religion  which  springs  from  fear  and 
terror,  from  contemplating  the  Creator  as  some  mal- 
ignant Being,  rejoicing  in  the  miseries  and  sufferings 
of  His  dependent  creatures,  which  are  the  necessary 
results  of  their  nature,  and  which  He  purposely  so 
created  ? 

The  religion  of  the  present  day  is  responsible  for 
many  of  those  evils  and  excesses  in  society  which  it 
is  its  professed  object  to  prevent.  It  aims  at  noth- 
ing less  disastrous  than  the  absolute  divorce  and 
violent  separation  of  the  two  natures  of  man.  These 
two  natures,  although  distinct  in  their  functions  and 
purposes,  yet  God  has  united  them  together  in  the 
even  balance  of  nature  by  the  most  intimate  and 
delicate  ties ;  and  this  connection  it  seems  to  be  the 
great  aim  of  religion  to  sever.  Thus,  according  to 
the  prevailing  creeds  of  orthodoxy,  the  first  condition, 
of  our  becoming  religious  is  to  deprive  ourselves  of 
many  of  the  legitimate  and  essential  pleasures  and 
enjoyments  of  our  present  state  of  existence.  This 
produces  a  continual  struggle  between  nature  and 
conscience;  but  violated  nature  is  frequently  too 
strong  for  her  oppressor,  she  asserts  her  rights,  and 
completely  overthrows  the  artificial,  sanctimonious 
picket-work  which  false  religion  has  set  up  around 
the  conscience ;  but  when  once  she  has  bursted  the 
fetters  which  so  painfully  restrained  her  action,  a 
reaction  takes  place,  she  riots  in  the  hour  of  victory, 
and  frequently  an  abuse  of  natural  faculties  is  the 
result;  and  thus  many  persons  who  seriously  and 
conscientiously  commenced  the  practice  of  religion, 


328  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

end  in  the  most  disgraceful  abuse  of  the  faculties  of 
their  physical  nature. 

How  frequently  is  it  the  case  that  we  see  persons 
enter  into  the  practice  of  religion  with  zeal  and  de- 
termination, but,  after  a  short  trial,  they  find  the 
task  so  painful  and  irksome  that  they  relinquish 
entirely  the  hopeless  eifort,  and  cease  to  cultivate 
the  sentiments  of  their  religious  nature?  And  it  is 
too  frequently  the  case  with  those  who  prosecute  the 
painful  task,  that  nothing  except  the  hope  of  eternal 
rewards,  and  the  terrors  of  infernal  torments,  could 
lash  them  into  the  performance  of  their  irksome 
duties.  Those  who  practice  religion  through  the 
fear  of  the  devil,  we  fear,  will  miss  the  "  straight 
and  narrow  way;"  yet  it  is  through  the  influence 
of  the  dread  of  his  satanic  majesty,  that  the  names 
of  many  persons  appear  upon  the  member  rolls  of 
our  Christian  churches.  We  are  of  opinion  that  the 
devil,  with  all  his  infernal  terrors,  never  yet  fright- 
ened a  trembling  soul  into  the  gates  of  heaven.  Is 
true  religion  thus  an  irksome  and  painful  effort? 
No.  All  true  religion  is  based  upon  the  proper 
exercise  and  gratification  of  every  sentiment  and 
propensity  of  human  nature,  and  as  we  are  endowed 
with  no  sentiment  or  propensity  the  proper  exercise 
and  gratification  of  which  does  not  afford  us  real 
pleasure  and  enjoyment,  it  follows  conclusively  that 
the  practice  of  true  religion  is  the  highest  sphere 
of  pleasure  and  happiness  which  man  is  capable 
of  attaining  in  his  mortal  condition. 

But  the  greatest  evils  which  result  from  this  un- 
natural religion  are  not  those  which  relate  to  its 
professors.  The  joyless  monasticism  and  painful 
self-denial  which  its  practice  requires,  deters  many 
sincere  and  well-disposed  persons  from  embracing 
its  profession,  and  thus  the  tendency  is  not  to  extend 


RELIGIOUS   FANCIES  AND   FOLLIES.         329 

the  benefits  and  blessings  of  true  religion  to  all  man- 
kind, but  to  confine  even  the  profession  of  religion 
to  those  who  are  willing  to  deprive  themselves  of 
many  of  the  virtuous  pleasures  and  enjoyments  of 
life,  and  believe  that  the  more  miserable  and  joyless 
they  render  themselves  on  account  of  religion  in  this 
world,  the  greater  will  be  their  rewards  in  the  next. 
The  existing  systems  of  religion  being  thus  repulsive 
to  the  unperverted  attributes  of  human  nature,  the 
consequence  is,  that  a  large  proportion  of  our  people 
make  no  religious  professions  whatever,  and  thus  the 
sentiments  of  their  spiritual  nature  are  not  properly 
cultivated,  and  this  generally  leads  to  the  undue 
gratification  and  abuse  of  their  physical  nature. 
The  professors  of  religion  running  into  one  extreme 
has  a  natural  tendency  to  force  the  non-professors 
into  the  opposite  extreme,  and  thus  the  restraint 
which  nature  designed  the  higher  sentiments  of  the 
mind  should  exercise  over  the  gratification  of  its 
lower  faculties,  is  removed ;  and  this  is  the  reason 
why  so  much  debased  carnality  exists  in  the  non- 
professing  world.  The  only  way  to  prevent  all  these 
evils  is  to  avoid  both  of  these  extremes,  by  meeting 
upon  the  platform  of  nature,  and  enjoying  all  the 
pleasures  and  blessings  of  true  religion,  by  gratify- 
ing all  these  faculties,  and  abusing  none  of  them. 

The  moral  and  intellectual  nature  of  man  can  not, 
indeed,  be  too  highly  developed,  provided  his  phy- 
sical nature  be  proportionally  developed,  and  the 
balance  of  nature  be  thus  preserved ;  but  all  history 
and  experience  conclusively  proves,  that  the  exclu- 
sive cultivation  of  man's  religious  nature,  leads  to 
nothing  but  religious  bigotry  and  superstition,  which 
completely  defeats  the  object  of  all  true  religion. 
It  is,  therefore,  not  only  the  privilege,  but  it  is  the 
religious  duty  of  every  person  to  engage  in  all  those 

28 


330  MODERN    FANCIES   AND   FOLLIES. 

pleasures  and  enjoyments  which  afford  proper  grati- 
fication to  any  unperverted  faculty  of  human  nature, 
whether  physical  or  spiritual ;  but  as  the  great  source 
of  our  happiness  is  the  proper  gratification  of  our 
moral  and  intellectual  sentiments,  it  follows  that  the 
greatest  portion  of  our  time  and  effort  are  to  be  de- 
voted to  their  cultivation. 

It  is  true,  that  many  of  the  secular  pleasures 
and  enjoyments  which  afford  gratification  to  the 
physical  nature  of  man,  are,  at  present,  much  cor- 
rupted and  debased,  and,  consequently,  do  not  exert 
a  virtuous  influence  upon  the  faculties  of  the  mind. 
But  why  is  this  so  ?  It  is  because  the  religious  por- 
tion of  community  have  thought  it  their  duty  to  deny 
themselves  the  enjoyment  of  these  pleasures  and 
amusements,  and,  consequently,  they  have  too  gen- 
erally fallen  into  the  hands  of  those  who  are  not 
actuated  by  so  high  a  tone  of  morality.  But  no 
person  will  say  that  this  is  necessarily  so.  The 
sources  of  our  physical  gratifications  may  be  kept 
just  as  pure  as  the  sources  of  our  spiritual  gratifi- 
cations, and  both  may  be  kept  much  purer  than  either 
one  is  at  the  present  day.  It  is  certainly  the  duty 
of  every  moral  person  to  discountenance  the  debased 
and  licentious  gratification  of  the  faculties  of  man's 
physical  nature ;  but  it  is  no  less  his  duty  to  en- 
courage their  virtuous  exercise  and  gratification. 
These  pleasures  and  amusements  are  essential  to 
human  happiness,  and  it  only  requires  the  counten- 
ance and  support  of  the  moral  and  religious  to  purge 
them  of  all  their  impurity,  and  to  render  them  emi- 
nently conducive  to  the  best  interests  of  true  piety 
and  virtue.  These  gratifications  may  be  brought  up 
to  any  standard  of  purity  and  morality  which  the 
public  may  demand,  and  the  professedly  moral  and 
religious  defeat  their  own  aims,  by  not  providing  for 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES.         331 

the  people  a  greater  variety  of  pleasures  and  amuse- 
ments, and  keeping  them  pure  and  virtuous,  by  par- 
ticipating in  them  themselves,  for  the  nature  of  man 
urges  him  to  seek  these  enjoyments,  and  not  finding 
those  which  are  innocent  and  harmless,  he  indulges 
in  those  which  are  vicious  and  sinful.  True  religion 
demands  them,  bigotry  and  superstition  alone  con- 
demns them.  Every  system  of  religion  which  is  not 
founded  upon  the  proper  exercise  and  gratification 
of  every  sentiment  and  propensity  of  human  nature, 
is  too  narrow  for  the  religion  instituted  by  the  God 
of  nature. 

It  is  the  divorce  of  religion  from  nature  which 
prevents  the  former  from  producing  those  grand 
results  which  must  flow  from  the  practice  of  true 
religion.  So  far  as  we  know,  there  is  no  religious 
denomination  which  attempts  to  conform  its  system 
of  religion  to  the  operations  of  the  works  of  God,  as 
manifested  in  the  constitution  of  man.  If  we  are  to 
judge  from  the  doctrines  which  are  taught  us  in  the 
name  of  Christianity,  God  has  constituted  a  system 
of  human  nature,  and  then  given  us  a  religion,  for 
the  guidance  and  control  of  that  nature,  which  con- 
flicts with  it  in  the  most  essential  particulars.  The 
teachers  of  religion  seem  to  be  thoroughly  convinced 
that  it  is  some  thing  profoundly  mysterious,  that  it 
relates  to  the  supernatural  instead  of  the  natural, 
and  they  discard  all  natural  constructions,  merely, 
because  they  are  simple  and  reasonable,  and  thus 
they  are  soon  lost  in  the  labyrinth  of  sacred  mystery 
and  complicated  error.  It  is  singularly  strange  that 
they  have  never  discovered  that  the  nature  of  man 
is  the  only  key  which  will  unlock  the  mysteries  of 
revelation.  Revelation  is  addressed  to  man  as  he 
exists  in  this  world,  and  hence  it  is  adapted  to  this 


332  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

state  of  existence,  and  we  can  ascertain  the  true 
meaning  of  the  former  only  by  the  light  of  the  latter. 
Hence  if  we  Avould  understand  the  Scriptures,  we 
must  study  the  nature  of  man,  and  in  all  our  con- 
structions of  the  word  of  God  we  must  be  guided  by 
his  works.  Man  is  ce'rtainly  the  work  of  God,  and 
if  the  Scriptures  be  the  word  of  God,  there  can  cer- 
tainly be  no  disagreement  between  them.  Thus,  by 
the  proper  use  of  reason  we  can  understand  the 
Scriptures,  by  studying  them  in  connection  with 
human  nature. 

But  instead  of  being  thus  governed  by  the  only 
reliable  guide  they  can  have,  Christians,  in  construing 
the  Scriptures,  reject  all  external  aid,  and  believe 
that  any  meaning  which  they  can  torture  out  of  the 
Bible  is  necessarily  true,  although  obviously  absurd, 
and  thus  with  nothing  to  guide  them  to  the  true 
meaning,  false  constructions  are  necessary  conse- 
quences ;  and  this  is  precisely  the  cause  which  has 
led  to  all  the  error  and  superstition  that  has  been 
practiced  in  the  name  of  religion.  Bishop  Butler 
has  shown  us  "-The  analogy  of  religion — natural  and 
revealed  to  the  constitution  and  course  of  nature," 
but  he  only  considered  its  analogy  to  external  nature, 
and  did  not  attempt  to  demonstrate  the  perfect  adap- 
tation of  religion  to  the  constitution  and  course  of 
human  nature.  It  is  very  true  that  nature  and  reli- 
gion are  analogous,  because  they  are  both  of  divine 
institution,  as  every  thing  is  analogous  which  God 
has  created  and  man  has  not  perverted.  But  if  reli- 
gion and  external  nature  are  analogous,  which  have 
no  closer  relation  than  that  they  were  instituted  by 
the  same  divine  hand,  how  perfect  must  be  the  agree- 
ment of  true  religion  and  unperverted  human  nature, 
which  are  not  only  the  work  of  the  same  Divine 
Workman,  but  by  Him  adjusted  and  adapted  to  each 


RELIGIOUS   FANCIES  AND    FOLLIES.         333 

other  ?  But  although  they  are  thus  perfectly  adapted 
to  each  other  by  the  hand  of  God,  they  have  both 
been  perverted  by  human  folly  and  ignorance,  and 
hence  their  great  and  most  unfortunate  disagreement. 
God  has  joined  them  together,  but  man  has  put  them 
asunder.  And  while  neither  can  be  properly  under- 
stood without  thoroughly  understanding  both,  and 
by  studying  the  one,  as  the  only  means  which  can 
unfold  the  mysteries  of  the  other,  it  is  a  melancholy 
fact,  that  neither  is  correctly  understood,  and  the 
inevitable  consequences  are,  the  world  is  filled  with 
false  religion,  as  the  necessary  consequence  of  the 
perversion  of  the  one,  and  with  suffering  and  misery 
as  the  necessary  consequences  of  the  perversion  of 
the  other. 

Nor  can  we  see  any  prospect  that  these  two  rela- 
tions, which  the  Creator  has  so  intimately  connected, 
will  soon  be  reunited  by  the  bond  of  truth.  The 
teachers  of  religion  refuse  to  look  to  the  natural  con- 
stitution of  man  to  aid  them  in  arriving  at  the  true 
religion  of  man.  They  forget  that  the  revelations 
of  God  consist  of  two  volumes,  and  that  the  first 
volume  is  human  nature,  and  that  this  volume  waa 
first  written  by  the  Author  of  nature,  and  after- 
ward the  volume  of  his  revealed  word,  that  his  will 
is  more  plainly  revealed  in  the  first  than  the  last; 
but  a  correct  understanding  of  both  is  indispensable 
to  the  proper  appreciation  of  the  will  of  God,  and  to 
the  practice  of  true  religion.  We  know  that  God 
created  man  and  endowed  him  with  all  the  attributes 
of  his  nature,  therefore,  if  the  doctrines  of  the 
Bible  can  not  be  made  to  agree  with  the  principles 
of  human  nature,  we  are  left  no  option  in  the  mat- 
ter ;  we  must  regard  these  doctrines  as  untrue,  or 
charge  our  Creator  with  inconsistency.  If  there  are 
any  passages  in  the  Bible  which  will  not  admit  of  a 


334  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

reasonable  construction,  which  will  preserve  com- 
plete harmony  and  agreement  between  the  word  and 
work  of  God,  we  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  discard 
such  passages  as  untrue. 

But  as  many  of  these  passages  are  construed  by 
the  ultra  religionists  of  the  present  day,  they  are 
completely  contrary  to  the  works  of  God,  insomuch 
that  if  they  are  true,  as  thus  construed,  the  -grand 
scheme  of  human  nature,  as  the  spirit  of  God  has 
moved  it  for  six  thousand  years,  is  nothing  but  an 
eternal  falsehood,  propagated  by  the  Creator  him- 
self; and  not  only  this,  but  they  render  those  pas- 
sages conflicting  and  contradictory  with  themselves, 
and  if  the  superstitious  mystery  and  sacred  error 
which  conceal  their  discrepancies  be  swept  away,  the 
whole  system  would  fall  asunder  as  an  incoherent 
mass  of  inconsistencies.  This  results  principally 
from  two  causes ;  first,  from  the  attempt  which  the 
teachers  of  religion  make  to  construe  the  scriptures 
without  regard  to  the  nature  of  man  ;  and  secondly, 
from  a  too  literal  construction  of  the  language  of 
the  Bible.  They  are  not  yet  attempting  to  construe 
the  word  of  God  upon  the  principle  of  its  complete 
correspondence  with  his  works,  and  refuse  to  see  the 
intimate  relation  which  exists  between  the  faculties 
of  human  nature  and  the  religion  which  must  result 
from  the  exercise  of  these  faculties.  We  are  told 
that  religion  is  a  matter  of  faith  ;  i.  e.,  we  must  be- 
lieve whatever  they  tell  us,  and  that  the  only  attri- 
bute of  our  nature,  which  we  are  allowed  to  exercise 
in  the  practice  of  religion,  is  our  credulity;  and  that 
we  are  pious  just  in  proportion  as  we  believe  the 
distorted  doctrines  and  constructions  which  are 
huckstered  to  us  in  the  name  of  Christianity. 

If  our  theological  teachers  correctly  understood  the 
works  of  God  as  they  are  manifested  in  the  nature 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES.         335 

of  man,  they  would  then  possess  the  only  means  by 
which  they  can  gain  admittance  into  the  storehouse 
of  divine  truth,  where  the  Creator  has  deposited  all 
the  rich  treasures  of  true  religion.  The  very  fact 
that  so  much  bigotry  and  sectarianism  exists,  proves 
conclusively  that  the  religious  world  is  not  pursuing 
that  course  which  is  designated  by  the  Author  of 
nature.  He  speaks  to  man  in  the  language  of  na- 
ture, and  every  pleasure  which  we  enjoy  by  the 
proper  gratification  of  any  of  our  natural  faculties, 
is  the  voice  of  God  speaking  within  us,  and  assuring 
us,  in  unmistakable  tones,  that  we  are  pursuing  the 
path  which  he  has  prepared  for  us,  while  every  pain 
which  we  feel,  and  every  anxiety  and  superstitious 
terror  which  result  from  the  abuse  of  any  natural 
faculty,  is  the  voice  of  God  admonishing  us  that 
we  are  departing  from  the  paths  of  virtue  and  re- 
ligion. All  the  sentiments  and  propensities  of  hu- 
man nature  are  so  many  finger-boards,  which  God 
has  placed  along  the  journey  of  life,  and  upon  which 
he  has  plainly  written  the  direction  to  happiness  up- 
on the  one  hand,  and  to  misery  upon  the  other,  and 
toward  the  one  or  the  other  of  these  destinations 
each  successive  revolution  of  the  wheel  of  time  rap- 
idly hurries  us.  Upon  this  great  thoroughfare  man- 
kind are  continually  passing  and  repassing,  and 
while  one  portion  is  traveling  the  road  which  leads 
to  happiness,  and  are  enjoying  the  rewards  of  obedi- 
ence to  the  will  of  God,  the  other  portion  is  travel- 
ing in  the  opposite  direction,  disregarding  all  the 
admonitions  of  their  Creator,  and  hurrying  on  the 
road  which  leads  to  misery.  Why  do  we  go  wrong 
when  the  direct  road  is  made  so  plain?  It  is  be- 
cause those  upon  whom  we  rely  to  guide  us  in  the 
journey  of  life  can  not  read  the  writing  which  God 
has  written  upon  these  finger-boards. 


336  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

But  we  have  said  that  many  religious  errors  re- 
sult from  a  too  literal  construction  of  scriptural 
language.  Every  person  who  reads  the  Bible  is 
aware  that  a  large  portion  of  it  is  written  in  a  fig- 
urative style,  and  hence,  it  is  perfectly  obvious,  that 
by  giving  a  literal  construction  to  these  figurative 
expressions,  a  false  meaning  is  obtained,  and  thus 
many  sincere  Christians  are  led  into  error.  While 
we  accept  the  Divine  origin  of  the  Christian  religion, 
it  must  be  especially  understood  that  we  do  not 
accept  as  divine  every  thing  which  comes  to  us  in 
the  name  of  Christianity.  We  have  seen  too  much 
error  and  hypocrisy  practiced  in  the  name  of  Chris- 
tianity to  be  willing  to  yield  a  ready  assent  to  what- 
ever chooses  to  assume  its  sacred  garb.  We  have 
seen  too  many  false  and  contradictory  meanings  tor- 
tured from  the  Bible,  to  believe  that  every  construc- 
tion which  can  be  forced  upon  a  passage  of  scripture 
is  necessarily  true.  We  know  too  well  the  uncer- 
tainty and  ambiguity  of  human  language  to  believe 
that  every  thing  that  it  may  be  supposed  to  mean, 
is  the  will  of  God.  Now,  if  we  could  arrive  at  the 
true  meaning  which  the  Apostles  intended  to  convey, 
we  would  certainly  have  true  Christianity,  but  the 
very  fact  that  their  teachings  receive  so  many  con- 
flicting constructions,  which  lead  to  so  many  different 
sorts  and  shapes  of  Christianity,  is  conclusive  evi- 
dence that  their  true  meaning  is  greatly  misunder- 
stood. 

This  error  results,  in  a  great  measure,  from  literal 
construction  of  scriptural  passages,  and  while  scrupu- 
lously adhering  to  the  letter  of  the  scriptures,  they 
have  almost  entirely  forsaken  their  true  meaning 
and  spirit.  Even  when  we  admit  that  the  teachings 
of  the  New  Testament  are  the  emanations  of  the 
Divine  will,  we  must  recollect  that  these  emanations 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES.         337 

are  transmitted  to  us  in  human  language,  and  that 
all  human  language,  as  well  as  all  other  human  in- 
ventions, partake  of  the  fallibility  and  imperfection 
of  man ;  and  hence,  when  we  rely  entirely  upon  the 
language  of  the  Scriptures  to  guide  us  to  Divine 
truth,  we  are  liable  to  be  led  into  error  at  every 
word.  Human  language  can  not  be  so  written, 
whether  the  writer  be  inspired  or  not,  but  what  it 
will  admit  of  different  constructions,  and  when  all 
reason  is  thrown  aside,  almost  innumerable  meanings 
may  be  forced  out  of  the  same  composition.  To 
prove  this,  we  have  only  to  instance  the  many  dif- 
ferent meanings  into  which  the  Scriptures  have  been 
construed.  We  are  willing  to  admit  the  spirit  and 
principles  of  true  Christianity  are  of  Divine  origin, 
but  we  most  emphatically  deny  that  human  language 
is,  and  the  imperfection  and  ambiguity  of  the  latter 
has  led  the  Christian  world  into  numerous  different 
paths,  and  Christianity  has  become  a  mingled  mass 
of  truth  and  error.  These  evils  result  from  making 
the  Bible  the  only  source  of  religious  knowledge, 
and  then  by  giving  literal  constructions  to  its  meta- 
phors, and  absurd  constructions  to  its  plainest  pas- 
sages, it  may  be  made  to  mean  just  precisely  what 
it  is  wanted  to  mean ;  and,  in  order  to  facilitate  the 
operation  of  manufacturing  different  kinds  of  religion 
out  of  the  same  materials,  they  refuse  the  aid  of 
reason,  and  all  the  lights  with  which  the  Creator  has 
illuminated  the  natural  world  by  which  they  may 
plainly  see  the  way,  and  persist  in  construing  the 
Bible  detached  from  every  thing  with  which  God 
has  connected  it,  and  detached  from  itself,  and  thus 
they  make  it  say  every  thing  but  what  it  really  says, 
and  mean  every  thing  but  it  what  really  means. 

From  these  reflections  we  conclude  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  understand  the  true  meaning  of  the  Bible, 
29 


'838  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES: 

or  to  comprehend  the  true  spirit  of  Christianity,  by 
confining  ourselves  to  the  texts  of  Scripture.  These 
texts  having  been  subjected  to  all  the  ambiguity  and 
uncertainty  of  human  language,  it  is  obvious  that 
we  must  have  some  external  light  to  guide  us  to 
truth,  amid  all  the  conflicting  creeds  and  doctrines 
by  which  we  are  surrounded  and  confused.  If  we 
take  these  creeds  and  doctrines  separately  as  the 
test  of  the  Bible's  meaning,  it  means  every  thing; 
if  we  take  them  collectively  it  destroys  itself,  and 
means  nothing.  The  only  fight  which  can  afford  us 
this  indispensable  aid,  and  bring  the  religious  world, 
which  has  gone  so  far  astray,  back  to  true  religion, 
is  the  light  of  nature.  Let  unperverted  reason  hold 
up  this  light  before  the  world,  and  by  it  read  the 
texts  of  Scripture,  and  then  the  God  of  the  Bible, 
and  the  God  of  nature  will  be  found  to  be  the  same 
consistent  Being,  and  the  real  beauties  and  harmo- 
nies of  his  natural  and  revealed  will  fully  displayed. 
The  Creator  having  revealed  his  will  to  man  by  two 
distinct  means,  his  word  and  his  work,  the  one  of 
which  is  necessarily  subjected  to  the  fallibility  of 
human  language,  the  other  written  in  the  inexorable 
and  unchangeable  operations  of  his  natural  govern- 
ment, the  understanding  of  both  is  indispensable  to 
the  understanding  of  his  will.  If  we  study  either 
separately,  we  are  led  into  error.  We  can  not  un- 
derstand the  operations  of  nature,  except  by  the  reve- 
lations of  the  Bible ;  we  can  not  understand  the 
revelations  of  the  Bible,  except  by  the  operations 
of  nature.  There  is  no  disagreement  in  these  two 
volumes.  But  man  made  the  language  in  which  the 
one  is  written,  and  construes  its  meaning  to  suit  his 
own  fancy  and  caprice.  God  instituted  the  opera- 
tions of  the  other,  and  he  alone  controls  them.  The 
language  of  nature  is  the  language  of  God;  it  is 


RELIGIOUS  FANCIES  AND   FOLLIES.         339 

not  affected  by  the  fallibility  of  human  inventions ; 
then,  why  not  study  the  will  of  God,  as  revealed  in 
the  language  of  nature,  to^  afford  us  a  sure  guide 
amid  all  the  uncertainty  and  misunderstanding  of 
the  language  of  his  Word  ? 

Thus  have  we  considered  the  subject  of  religious 
fancies  and  follies.  Conceiving  religion  to  be  some 
thing  pure  and  holy,  and  regarding  the  sentiment 
of  the  human  mind  upon  which  it  is  founded  as  the 
noblest  attribute  of  man,  we  have  labored  earnestly 
and  fearlessly  to  divest  religion  of  the  follies  and 
errors  which  have  become  associated  with  it  in  its 
earthly  residence,  so  that  it  may  stand  forth  before 
the  world  attired  in  its  own  pure  and  heavenly  garbs. 
Believing  in  the  infinite  beneficence  and  goodness  of 
God,  we  can  not  but  believe  that  the  practice  of  true 
religion  is  the  only  means  of  enjoying  true  happiness 
in  this  world,  and  of  securing  its  enjoyment  in  a 
future  state  of  existence.  But  in  order  to  enjoy  true 
religion,  it  is  indispensable  that  we  arouse  ourselves 
from  that  passive  reverence  which  causes  us  to  vener- 
ate whatever  comes  to  us  in  the  name  of  religion, 
thus  throwing  the  door  wide  open  for  the  admission 
of  error,  and  yielding  ourselves  willing  votaries  to 
the  practice  of  false  religion.  The  more  important 
and  sacred  a  truth  is,  the  more  vigilant  and  earnest 
investigation  and  watchfulness  it  requires  to  protect 
it  against  the  adulterations  of  error.  Truth  loves 
candid  and  intelligent  investigation,  error  alone 
fears  it. 


ESSAY  VI 


MODERN    SPIRITUALISM. 

THE   ABSURDITY  OF    ITS   SPIRITUALITY  EXPOSED,  AND    THE    NATUHAIi 
CAUSES  WHICH    PRODUCE    THE    PHENOMENA    EXPLAINED. 

WERE  it  not  for  the  purpose  of  making  an  earnest 
attempt  to  develop  some  of  the  principles  upon  which 
have  been,  in  all  ages,  and  still  are,  founded  some  of 
the  most  absurd  of  human  follies,  we  should  not  ven- 
ture into  the  unknown  regions  of  human  nature  into 
which  we  are  now  about  to  make  an  exploration.  We 
are  about  to  explore  a  vast  desert,  into  which  but 
few  travelers  have  ventured,  a  region  invested  with 
mysterious  awe  and  sepulchral  terrors,  inhabited  by 
unearthly  gnomes,  ghosts,  specters  and  spirits,  but 
which,  quitting  their  mysterious  abodes,  play  strange 
freaks  with  human  beings;  a  region  in  which  the 
established  laws  of  nature  hold  not  their  sway,  but 
in  which  the  regular  government  of  God  is  super- 
seded by  the  reign  of  goblins  and  demons.  But  let 
not  the  reader  who  proposes  to  accompany  us  in  this 
journey  among  sepulchral  terrors  and  unearthly 
shades,  be  startled,  for,  if  he  is  armed  with  an  abiding 
faith  in  the  omnipotent  providence  of  God,  and  is 
willing  to  behold  His  works  as  they  are  displayed 
before  him,  he  will  only  behold  the  natural  creation 
of  God,  and  never  once  get  in  sight  or  hearing  of  one 
of  these  mysterious  phantoms.  And  if  he  is  not  thus 
(340) 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  341 

prepared  for  the  journey,  let  him  come  along  without 
fear  or  faltering,  for,  without  boasting  of  any  superior 
courage  or  strength,  we  will  pledge  ourselves  to  pro- 
tect him  against  the  attacks  of  unearthly  existences, 
and  guarantee  to  him  a  safe  return,  without  harm  to 
body  or  soul. 

This  region,  wherein  dwell  these  sepulchral  phan- 
toms, seems  to  form  a  bridge  across  that  unfathom- 
able and  incomprehensible  abyss  which  separates  our 
present  from  our  future  state  of  existence ;  and  thus 
the  believers  in  spiritualism  seem  to  suppose  that 
there  is  a  supernatural  communication  established 
between  the  earth  and  heaven  or  hell,  or  whatever 
other  transmundane  sphere  in  which  the  departed 
spirits  of  dead  men  may  be  located,  and,  moreover, 
that  all  this  seems  to  be  gotten  up  on  a  kind  of  super- 
natural telegraphic  system,  by  means  of  which  the 
denizens  of  this  earth  can  send  dispatches  to  the 
spirits  of  departed  friends,  which  spirits,  not  con- 
tented with  dispatching  back  the  news  in  the  celestial 
spheres,  but  availing  themselves  of  their  spiritual  or 
fluidic  nature,  they  get  aboard  of  the  supernatural 
telegraph,  and  are  actually  transported  back  to  our 
mundane  sphere,  and  manifest  their  presence  here 
by  a  system  of  rapping,  thumping,  upsetting  tables, 
and  playing  smash  generally  with  our  household 
goods,  and  conducting  themselves  in  a  manner  that 
does  not  by  any  means  become  well-behaved  spirits. 

But,  like  Commodore  Stockton,  who  was  sent  on  a 
mission  to  certain  paradoxical  celestial  spirits,  who 
have  not  yet  removed  their  quarters  from  our  earthly 
sphere,  for  the  purpose  of  opening  up  with  them  an 
international  exchange  of  opinions  and  commodities, 
we  are  bound  upon  a  voyage  of  discovery  among 
spirits  even  more  paradoxical  than  our  earthly 
celestials,  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  their  real 


342  MODERN  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

nature,  and,  if  the  project  be  practicable,  to  cultivate 
with  them  friendly  and  neighborly  feelings,  and  form 
with  them  a  kind  of  treaty  of  peace  and  commerce. 
For,  judging  from  the  wonderful  revelations  which 
they  make  to  their  special  friends  here  among  us,  un- 
raveling every  mystery,  (except  the  mystery  of  their 
own  nature,)  discovering  the  hidden  and  revealing 
the  sublimest  truth,  it  certainly  will  be  of  the  great- 
est importance  to  avail  ourselves  of  their  friendly 
aid.  But  let  it  be  distinctly  understood  that,  in 
making  this  exploration,  human  science  can  afford 
us  no  aid.  Legitimate  science  has  not  yet  been 
able  to  offer  any  satisfactory  explanation  of  the 
strange  phenomena,  which  we  shall  meet  at  every 
step.  Fluid  action  and  animal  magnetism,  the  only 
means  by  which  this  supernatural  apocraphy  can 
be  pretended  to  be  accounted  for,  are  not  yet  ad- 
mitted into  the  family  of  sciences,  but  are  themselves 
discarded  with  as  much  contempt  as  the  phenomena 
Avhich  they  attempt  to  explain. 

Men  of  science  have  been  satisfied  to  pronounce 
that  a  humbug  for  which  they  could  by  no  means 
account.  This  is  certainly  an  easy  mode  of  dispos- 
ing of  the  question,  but  it  leaves  it  entirely  un- 
touched, and  the  very  fact  that  the  scientific  and 
talented  are  thus  unable  to  meet  and  successfully 
contend  with  it,  invests  it  with  tenfold  more  power 
to  operate  effectually  upon  the  unprotected  credulity 
of  the  uneducated  portion  of  the  community.  It  ap- 
pears to  us  that  this  is  the  principal  reason  why  the 
delusion  has  spread  itself  so  widely  through  the 
country,  and  many  unsuspecting  and  sincere  per- 
sons have  become  its  victims  merely  because  its  phe- 
nomena seemed  to  speak  to  them  with  a  strange  and 
supernatural  authority,  which  they  could  not  ex- 
plain upon  natural  principles,  and,  consequently, 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  343 

were  induced  to  believe  that  they  were  produced  by 
some  supernatural  agency. 

It  makes  no  difference  with  how  much  contempt 
science  may  regard  these  phenomena,  still  they  exist, 
the  raps  are  produced,  furniture  is  moved,  and  per- 
sons, acting  through  its  influence,  perform  deeds 
which  seem  far  beyond  the  scope  of  human  agency ; 
all  these  things  are  performed  every  day,  and  legiti- 
mate science  acknowledges  her  inability  to  account 
for  them  upon  any  of  the  known  principles  of  nature. 
Every  day  we  are  confounded  by  prodigies  which 
seem  to  subvert  the  laws  of  nature,  and  we  have 
among  us  sorcerers,  who  are  holding  communion 
with  demons  and  devils,  and  at  the  pleasure  of 
any  spiritual  medium  any  number  of  disembodied 
spirits  may  be  summoned  up  from  beyond  the 
grave,  to  divulge  the  hidden  secrets  of  heaven  and 
hell.  If  all  this  be  true,  the  government  of  God 
by  a  system  of  established  laws,  the  operations  of 
which  we  daily  observe,  is  merely  an  imaginary 
scheme,  and  the  Bible  is  all  an  unfounded  farce. 
Now,  if  these  phenomena  are  not  produced  by  nat- 
ural agencies,  we  must  admit  the  conclusion  that 
they  are  produced  by  supernatural  agencies ;  science 
is  asked  to  explain  them ;  she  answers  that  it  is  all 
a  humbug,  and  refuses  the  desired  information.  The 
truth  is,  legitimate  science  is  completely  nonplussed ; 
she  can  offer  no  satisfactory  explanation.  We  there- 
fore can  not  enter  upon  the  investigation  with  en- 
tire confidence,  but  we  feel  sure  that  if  we  do  not 
succeed  in  assigning  to  these  phenomena  their  proper 
natural  causes,  we  shall  at  least  be  able  .to  divest 
them  of  all  claim  to  spirituality. 

The  retrospect  of  human  history  continually  dis- 
plays a  decided  fondness  in  man  to  attach  undue  im- 
portance to  miraculous  manifestations.  In  the  midst 


344  MODERN    FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

of  the  mental  darkness  by  which  he  has  been  sur- 
rounded, he  has  groped  his  way  in  doubt  and  uncer- 
tainty, amid  phenomena  which  were  to  him  incom- 
prehensible, and  has  attributed  to  supernatural  agen- 
cy those  natural  manifestations  which  his  ignorance 
alone  has  prevented  him  from  discovering  the  true 
cause.  There  is  scarcely  a  natural  phenomenon 
which  has  not,  in  some  age,  given  rise  to  supersti- 
tious fears,  and  many  of  the  natural  manifestations, 
which  so  clearly  attest  the  omnipotence  and  benefi- 
cence of  God,  has  been  attributed  to  the  threatenings 
of  offended  demons.  Even  in  the  golden  age  of  an- 
tiquity, when  monuments  of  literature  were  reared, 
which  have  successfully  withstood  all  the  ravages  and 
vicissitudes  of  time,  and  will  be  read  and  admired  as 
long  as  human  intelligence  shall  exist,  in  those  ages 
when  the  deeds  of  heroism  and  patriotic  devotion 
were  performed,  which  have  wreathed  the  proudest 
laurels  that  ever  graced  the  brow  of  man,  in  those  ages 
in  which,  in  many  respects,  he  attained  the  noblest  at- 
titude he  has  ever  yet  achieved,  even  when  he  thus 
stood  forth  in  all  his  pride  and  strength  he  was  start- 
led and  terrified  by  imaginary  phantoms,  which  he 
supposed  to  be  supernatural,  but  which  were  only  the 
creatures  of  his  own  superstition  and  ignorance. 

Augustus  Caesar,  the  champion  of  the  Augustan 
age,  who  enslaved  the  Roman  world,  the  hugest  colos- 
sal of  human  power  that  has  ever  yet  been  reared 
in  all  the  annals  of  time,  was  himself  the  slave  of 
the  weakest  phantoms  that  ever  frightened  deluded 
man,  and  even  wore  an  amulet  about  his  person, 
to  protect  him  against  the  influence  of  evil  spirits. 
Cicero  and  Pericles  had  their  talismans.  Classic 
antiquity  resounds  with  the  orgies  of  superstition 
and  demonology.  Here  we  meet  one  of  the  most 
difficult  problems  in  human  nature,  a  strange  and 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  345 

apparently  inexplicable  anomaly,  and  in  its  solution 
is  comprehended  the  reason  why  man  has,  in  all  ages, 
been  the  victim  of  phantoms,  and  has  persisted  in 
subjecting  himself  to  the  government  of  demons. 
When  we  seriously  reflect  upon  the  learning  and  lit- 
erature, the  art  and  science  ;  the  heroism  and  patriot- 
ism of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome,  and  view  man  as 
he  there  stood  forth  in  all  his  nobleness  and  grandeur, 
whose  deeds  in  every  department  of  human  action 
yet  shine  forth  with  undimmed  luster,  with  all  this 
scientific  and  intellectual  greatness,  it  seems  strange 
indeed,  that  he  should  tremble  and  turn  pale  before 
the  power  of  an  imaginary  creature,  and  live  the 
slave  of  abject  superstition,  the  absurdity  of  which 
it  certainly  seems  that  the  most  inferior  intelligence 
should  expose. 

When  we  read  of  the  efforts  of  their  soldiers,  poets, 
orators,  and  statesmen,  the  greatness  of  which,  in 
many  respects,  can,  perhaps,  never  be  excelled  by  the 
powers  of  the  human  mind,  it  seems  utterly  unac- 
countable that  they  should  acquiesce  in  and  believe 
doctrines  and  notions  which  not  only  outrage  the 
dictates  of  exalted  reason,  but  are  contrary  to  the 
plainest  teachings  of  common  sense.  Those  who  could 
conquer  nations  and  rear  intellectual  monuments  as 
enduring  as  time,  were  themselves  conquered  by 
ideal  supernatural  phantoms,  which  should  frighten 
only  the  weakest  and  most  degraded  of  the  human 
species.  But  in  order  to  reconcile  this  apparent 
anomaly,  we  have  only  to  consider  the  real  condi- 
tion of  man  during  the  classic  ages  of  antiquity. 
He  was  ignorant  in  the  midst  of  all  his  learning,  and 
feeble  in  the  midst  of  all  his  strength.  Although 
poetry  and  eloquence  attained  their  Augustan  age, 
and  art  and  science  engraved  their  lasting  impres- 
sions upon  the  records  of  time,  yet  man  was  really 


346  MODERN  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

ignorant  of  himself,  of  his  Creator,  and  of  the  true 
principles  of  the  natural  world  in  which  he  was 
placed.  What  availed  then  all  their  classic  lore, 
what  their  mighty  empires  and  armies,  what  their 
proud  achievements  in  art  and  science  ?  When  they 
looked  abroad  upon  the  glorious  works  of  God,  when 
they  beheld  the  mighty  machinery  of  the  Universe, 
all  was  darkness. 

They  were  ignorant  of  the  unchangeable  and  in- 
exorable laws  by  which  they  were  governed  in  every 
condition  of  human  existence,  and  regarded  their 
operations  as  the  results  of  the  power  of  the  lifeless 
deities  which  they  worshiped.  Unassisted  human 
reason,  even  in  the  boasted  ages  of  classic  antiquity, 
was  incapable  of  comprehending  the  grand  truth  of 
the  creation. 

"  And  look  through  nature  up  to  nature's  God." 

The  mightiest  of  the  Grecians  and  Romans,  those 
upon  whose  beck  hung  the  destinies  of  nations,  never 
undertook  an  important  enterprise,  without  consult- 
ing the  oracles,  sibyls,  and  sorcerers,  who  pretended 
to  hold  communion  with  spirits  and  demons,  and  the 
fate  of  empires  was  frequently  decided,  and  the  blood 
of  thousands  of  human  beings  shed,  on  account  of 
the  hallucinations  of  some  crazy  woman,  who  pre- 
tended to  interpret  the  will  of  some  supernatural 
agency.  But  let  us  not  take  an  uncharitable  view 
of  the  ancients.  Let  us  not  rashly  charge  them 
with  unreasonable  superstition  and  inconsistency. 
The  days  of  oracles  and  sibyls  have  long  since  passed 
away ;  the  sibylline  books  have  given  place  to  the 
Bible,  and  man,  in  his  onward  progress,  through  the 
cycles  of  time,  has  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the 
Supreme  Arbiter  of  nature,  arid  the  events  which 
decide  the  destiny  of  individuals  and  nations,  are  not 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  347 

now,  as  then,  believed  to  be  the  result  of  unfathom- 
able mystery,  but  are  known  to  result  from  the  re- 
gular operations  of  established  laws.  Standing  as  we 
now  do  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
viewing,  in  the  midst  of  its  scientific  and  intellectual 
splendor,  the  character  of  the  ancients,  it  seems 
strange  indeed  that  such  gross  errors  and  supersti- 
tions should  be  thus  mingled  with  such  profound  ge- 
nius and  intelligence. 

But  let  us  not  boast  of  our  own  moral  and  intel- 
lectual purity  and  perfection.  Let  us  not  suppose  that 
the  advance  of  time  and  truth  has  entirely  eliminated 
error  and  superstition.  Although  intelligent  persons 
at  the  present  day  would  disdain  to  consult  heathen 
oracles  and  sibyls,  yet  there  are  those  among  us 
boasting  of  superior  light  and  intelligence,  whose 
errors  and  superstitions  are  more  absurd  and  incon- 
sistent than  those  which  were  practiced  by  the  an- 
cients. It  is  impossible  for  man  to  entirely  avoid 
the  commission  of  error ;  it  is  the  inevitable  result  of 
the  inherent  fallibility  of  his  nature.  Let  human 
rationality  be  developed  to  its  fullest  extent,  and  all 
its  faculties  be  brought  into  the  most  eifective  ex- 
ercise, and  yet  error  will  be  more  or  less  mingled 
with  all  human  transactions.  But  this  unavoidable 
error  is  not  such  as  poisons  the  very  fountains  of 
human  happiness,  and  leads  men  into  beliefs  and 
superstitions  so  absurd,  that  they  indicate  the  entire 
want  of  the  exercise  of  rational  faculties,  instead  of 
their  proper  exercise ;  for  if  this  were  the  case,  He 
who  founded  the  scheme  of  nature,  would  be  a  malevo- 
lent instead  of  a  benevolent  Being. 

Those  who  advocate  the  doctrine  of  the  inherent 
corruption  and  depravity  of  human  nature,  neces- 
sarily charge  God  with  malignity  of  purpose.  They 
can  not  escape  this  conclusion,  except  by  resorting 


348  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

to  the  flimsy  excuse  of  clerical  jargon,  and  piously 
believe  absurd  doctrines,  forged  out  of  Scripture,  in 
spite  of  truth  and  reason.  The  study  of  the  estab- 
lished laws  of  God,  and  a  steadfast  confidence  in  His 
perfect  beneficence,  lead  us  unavoidably  to  the  con- 
clusion, that  when  all  the  human  capacities  are  fully 
developed,  and  brought  into  exercise  in  accordance 
with  the  designs  of  God,  notwitstanding  the  fallibility 
of  human  nature,  man  will  enjoy  true  and  uninter- 
rupted happiness.  We,  therefore,  arrive  at  the  con- 
clusion, that  the  gross  errors  and  superstitions  which 
have  in  all  ages  prevented  man  from  becoming  thus 
happy,  are  not  the  inevitable  results  of  the  inherent 
qualities  of  human  nature ;  but  they  are  wholly  and 
entirely  the  results  of  the  ignorance  of  man,  and  of 
his  perverse  neglect  and  abuse  of  the  requirements 
of  his  nature. 

Human  depravity  is  the  result  of  human  conduct, 
and  man  acts  as  he  does  principally  in  consequence 
of  his  ignorance  of  his  own  nature.  The  great  mass 
of  mankind,  who  are  honestly  and  seriously  striving 
to  walk  in  the  paths  of  virtue,  and  to  live  in  accord- 
ance with  the  will  of  God,  frequently  act  in  a  man- 
ner which  has  a  more  or  less  depraving  influence 
upon  their  nature,  because  they  are  ignorantly  and 
unintentionally  violating  natural  laws,  the  inevitable 
penalties  of  which  are  misery  and  depravity.  Can 
any  person  suppose  that  man,  endowed  as  he  is,  with 
the  faculties  of  rationality,  if  those  faculties  were 
kept  unperverted,  and  he  was  left  unfettered  as  to 
his  actions,  would  voluntarily  and  intentionally  pur- 
sue that  course  of  conduct  which  inevitably  leads  to 
suffering  and  misery,  rather  than  that  which  leads  to 
peace  and  happiness,  if  he  clearly  understood  the 
true  causes  which  determine  the  question  of  misery 
or  happiness  ?  The  principal  reason  why  we  have  so 


MODERN    SPIRITUALISM.  349 

much  human  misery  is,  because  man  is  ignorant  of 
the  actual  conditions  of  his  happiness.  He  does  not 
most  frequently  violate  the  laws  of  nature  wilfully, 
but  he  does  so  ignorantly,  without  knowing  what 
their  actual  requirements  are,  and  when  the  inevitable 
penalty  follows,  he  attributes  his  misery  to  the  mys- 
terious dispensation  of  God.  If  it  be  said  that  men 
are  frequently  hurried  on  in  their  career  of  vice  and 
degradation  by  the  fierce  and  uncontrollable  passions 
and  appetites  which  seem  to  be  an  insurmountable 
part  of  their  very  nature,  we  answer,  that  these  de- 
basing passions  themselves  are  the  penalties  of  vio- 
lated natural  laws;  and  did  man  know  himself,  and 
act  like  a  rational  being,  these  degrading  passions, 
which  have  ever  been  the  curse  of  man,  and  the  bane 
of  society,  may  be  almost  entirely  eradicated  from 
human  nature.  These  inhuman  passions  are  the  re- 
sult of  the  undue  gratification  of  our  animal  nature, 
and  the  neglect  of  the  proper  cultivation  of  our 
moral  and  intellectual  nature,  whereby  the  law  of 
our  nature  is  reversed,  and  our  conduct  is  controlled 
by  our  animal  propensities,  instead  of  our  moral  and 
intellectual  sentiments,  and  we  become  mere  animals 
instead  of  rational  and  moral  beings. 

But  all  the  errors  and  superstitions  by  which  man 
has  been  blindfolded  in  every  age  of  his  existence, 
result  from  the  same  cause,  viz :  his  ignorance  of  the 
real  conditions  of  his  earthly  existence.  While  he 
is  ignorant  of  the  true  causes  which  produce  the 
effects  which  are  continually  occurring  around  him, 
he  is  necessarily  led  into  error.  While  the  learned 
sages  of  antiquity  were  ignorant  of  the  Great  First 
Cause,  they  attributed  the  natural  phenomena  which 
were  daily  manifested  around  them  to  the  interven- 
tion of  false  gods  and  demons,  while  our  modern 
spiritual  sages,  being  ignorant  of  the  natural  cause 


350  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

which  produces  the  strange  phenomena  which  are 
manifested  before  them,  attribute  them  to  the  inter- 
vention of  departed  spirits,  which  have  long  since 
taken  up  their  abode 

"  In  that  undiscovered  country,  from  whose  bourne 
No  traveler  returns." 

Nothing  but  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  truth, 
and  an  immovable  reliance  upon  the  absolute  admin- 
istration of  the  eternal  Governor,  can  safely  guide 
us  amid  the  complicated  labyrinth  of  ever-varying 
phenomena  through  which  we  are  bound  to  pass  in 
the  journey  of  life.  But  when  we  confidently  place 
our  trust  in  him,  and  seriously  seek  to  discover,  and 
conform  to,  the  requirements  of  his  laws,  effect  fol- 
lows cause  with  perfect  regularity,  and  his  Supreme 
beneficence,  and  stern,  but  impartial  justice,  are  dis- 
played in  every  event  and  phenomenon  which  occur 
in  all  the  affairs  of  this  world ;  but  when  once  our 
confidence  is  unloosened  from  the  firm  fastenings 
of  eternal  truth,  all  is  mystery  and  painful  doubt. 
Every  effect  is  necessarily  mysterious  to  man,  of 
which  he  does  not  understand  the  true  cause,  and 
if  he  can  not  discover  the  cause  within  the  narrow 
limits  of  his  own  knowledge,  or  if  the  phenomena 
appear  strange,  or  different  from  those  which  are 
commonly  manifested  in  the  usual  course  of  nature, 
he  is  strongly  disposed  to  attribute  them  to  some 
mysterious  and  unnatural  agency.  And  when  he 
views  them  through  the  false  medium  of  his  own 
ignorance,  it  operates  like  the  double  convex  lens 
of  a  telescope,  and  magnifies  very  natural  phenom- 
ena into  startling  wonders,  and,  if  we  are  to  believe 
the  exaggerated  reports  which  we  hear,  we  must  be- 
lieve that  nature  has  nothing  else  to  do  but  to  per- 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  351 

form  frantic   freaks  to  frighten  ignorant  men  and 
women. 

The  reason  that  the  operation  of  the  natural  laws 
appear  irregular  to  man,  is  because  he  is  ignorant 
of  them.  God  governs  the  universe  to-day  by  the 
same  immutable,  unchangeable  laws  that  he  did  at 
the  time  of  its  creation,  and,  we  are  confident,  will 
continue  to  do  so  until  time  shall  be  no  more ;  and, 
during  the  whole  period  of  time,  there  has  not  been, 
nor  will  be,  the  slightest  irregularity  in  their  opera- 
tion, except  when  they  are  miraculously  suspended 
by  his  Omnipotent  power,  and  that  no  instance  of 
this  has  occurred  since  the  days  of  the  Apostles, 
and  very  few  miracles  occurred  at  that  time,  or  prior 
to  it.  Notwithstanding  this  perfect  regularity  in  the 
government  of  God,  man,  through  his  ignorance  of 
the  natural  laws,  and  of  the  true  causes  which  con- 
trol his  existence,  persists  in  discovering,  in  their 
regular  operation,  an  inexplicable  maze  of  myste- 
rious phenomena  and  supernatural  manifestations, 
as  though  we  were  under  the  government  of  ranting 
devils  and  demons.  But  let  us  pursue  the  argument 
demonstrating  that  man's  belief  in  the  false  super- 
natural, such  as  the  intervention  of  spirits  and  de- 
mons in  human  affairs,  results  from  his  own  igno- 
rance and  distorted  conceptions,  arid  that  such  belief 
is,  in  no  case,  justified  by  the  actual  experience  of 
life,  or  by  the  real  phenomena  of  nature.  Now,  it 
seems  to  us  that,  in  this  enlightened  and  Christian 
age,  it  is  certainly  unnecessary  to  assert  that  no 
agency  or  power  can  interfere  with  the  operations 
of  nature,  except  that  of  God  alone,  and  that  no 
spirit,  demon,  ghost,  or  other  supernatural  phantom, 
can  set  aside  the  operation  of  natural  laws,  and  set 
up  a  system  of  supernatural  phenomena  upon  its 
own  account,  and  in  opposition  to  chose  laws.  But 


352  MODERN  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

it  may  be  said  that  it  is  in  accordance  with  nature 
that  we  should  receive  communications  from  departed 
spirits.  Why  is  it,  then,  that  some  six  thousand 
years  have  elapsed  under  the  regular  administration 
of  the  same  natural  laws  before  any  rapping  spirits 
dared  to  manifest  themselves  by  thumping  about  the 
dwellings  of  men  ?  Why  do  they  come  lagging  up 
at  this  late  period  of  time,  without  any  excuse  for 
their  long  delay?  How  does  it  happen  that  they 
lay  slumbering  in  their  sepulchral  regions,  while 
century  following  century  rolled  on  their  ceaseless 
course,  and  never  availed  themselves  of  the  natural 
law  which  permitted  them  to  come  back  and  chat 
with  their  brother  spirits  which  were  yet  dwelling 
in  the  flesh,  in  the  language  of  table-rapping  and 
tilting,  and  inform  them  how  their  departed  friends 
were  getting  along  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan? 
how  does  it  happen  that  these  spirits  never  availed 
themselves  of  these  important  privileges  until  they 
happened  to  be  resurrected  by  the  Misses  Fox  some 
eight  years  ago  ? 

If  they  could  have  come  back  at  all,  old  Adam's 
spirit  could  have  just  as  well  made  the  trip  the  next 
day  after  his  death,  as  the  spirits  of  those  who  died 
yesterday,  and  if  it  was  right  that  they  should  come 
back,  why  have  they  so  long  deferred  the  discharge 
of  their  duty?  But,  perhaps,  becoming  very  anx- 
ious to  have  a  chat  with  their  old  friends  upon  the 
earth,  they  have  at  last  succeeded  in  availing  them- 
selves of  their  spiritual  nature  so  far  as  to  escape 
the  laws  of  nature,  which  operate  so  sternly  upon  us 
who  are  yet  dwelling  in  the  mortal  coil ;  and  all  at 
once  here  they  come  in  great  droves,  overspreading 
the  whole  country,  and  being  anxious  to  make  up 
lost  time,  they  are  ready  to  be  summoned  up  at  any 
moment,  to  rap  out  all  manner  of  nonsense  and 


MODERN  SPIRITUALISM.  353 

create  a  regular  rumpus  among  our  household  and 
kitchen  furniture.  Or,  perhaps,  it  has  been  reserved 
for  this  fast  age  of  railroads  and  telegraphs,  when 
the  power  of  steam  has  been  converted  into  the  obe- 
dient servant  of  man,  upon  sea  and  land,  and  his 
messages  are  conveyed  upon  the  wings  of  the  light- 
ning, reserved  for  such  an  age  to  open  up  a  regular 
communication  with  the  spirit  world. 

The  day  may  be  near  at  hand  when  the  antipodes 
of  the  earth  shall  be  engaged  in  daily  conversa- 
tion, by  means  of  the  submarine  telegraph,  and  al- 
though we  believe  that  human  art  and  science  may 
yet  make  many  more  wonderful  achievements  in  the 
realms  of  physical  nature;  yet  we  have  no  confi- 
dence whatever  in  the  practicableness  of  this  new 
supernatural  telegraph  upon  which  our  modern 
spiritualists  pretend  to  be  already  operating.  Man 
may  sink  his  submarine  cable  in  the  Atlantic  ocean, 
and  thus  establish  regular  communication  between 
continent  and  continent,  but  when  he  comes  to  sink 
his  cable  in  the  dark  ocean  which  separates  the  pres- 
ent from  the  future  world,  he  has  no  means  of  ven- 
turing upon  its  dark  bosom  except  through  the  por- 
tals of  the  grave  ;  a  voyage  from  which  no  human 
bark  has  yet  returned.  When  we  come  to  investi- 
gate the  communications  which  are  pretended  to  be 
received  from  the  spirit  world,  we  think  they  will  be 
found  to  be  not  entirely  reliable,  and  that  the  tele- 
graph by  means  of  which  they  are  conveyed,  instead 
of  having  its  opposite  terminus  on  the  other  side  of 
Jordan,  has  its  communicating  office  not  very  far 
from  the  operator  who  receives  the  messages.  Al- 
though strange  coincidences  may  occur,  and  we  may 
have  singular  preconceptions  and  admonitions,  yet 
it  is  very  certain  that  we  have  not  yet  had  evidence 
sufficiently  conclusive  to  justify  the  belief  in  supernat- 

30 


854  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

ural  manifestations,  and  the  presence  among  us  of 
spirits  which  the  laws  of  God  have  inexorably  con- 
signed to  a  different  and  unknown  state  of  existence. 

Mysterious  phenomena  have  been  manifested  in 
different  ages  of  the  world,  and  there  has  yet  been 
no  age  in  which  there  have  not  been  sincere  be- 
lievers in  the  false  supernatural,  and  the  entire  fail- 
ure and  the  exposure  of  each  succeeding  delusion, 
has  not  prevented  men  from  following  every  erratic 
phantom  which  comes  to  them  clothed  in  garbs  which, 
to  their  deluded  minds,  assume  a  supernatural  appear- 
ance. History  establishes  beyond  all  controversy 
the  i'act,  that  when  man  is  placed  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances, and  under  the  influence  of  certain  feel- 
ings and  thoughts,  strange  and  mysterious  phenom- 
ena are  the  results.  At  various  times  and  places, 
the  victims  of  delusion  have  gone  into  convulsions ; 
at  others,  they  have  gone  into  trances,  and  had  vis- 
ions and  prophesied ;  at  others,  they  have  been  the 
subjects  of  witchcraft;  and  now  these  delusions 
have  assumed  the  form  of  rapping  spirits.  If  we 
examine  the  facts  which  history  has  recorded  in  re- 
gard to  these  delusions,  we  almost  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  bulwarks  of  nature  are  being  swept 
away ;  that  she  is  tottering  upon  the  solid  rock  of 
her  foundation,  and  is  no  longer  moving  in  the 
course  of  her  regular  operation. 

But  when  we  consider  that  the  phenomena  which 
attend  these  delusions  are  only  transient,  that  they 
are  manifested  only  at  indefinite  periods  and  in  cer- 
tain localities,  and  that  they  prevail  as  a  kind  of 
epidemic  ;  and  that  nature  stands  unswerved  from 
her  true  course  by  all  these  assaults,  and  when  the 
delusions  have  passed  away,  and  their  victims  come 
back  again  to  the  observance  of  her  requirements, 
they  are  no  longer  troubled  with  strange  visions,  or 


MODERN    SPIRITUALISM.  355 

convulsions,  or  hallucinations,  but  move  along  in 
nature's  regular  course ;  when  we  consider  all  these 
facts,  we  may  safely  conclude  that  these  delusions, 
with  all  their  attendant  mysteries,  result  more  as 
the  consequences  of  human  error  and  ignorance 
than  from  supernatural  causes.  Now,  as  the  natural 
laws  are  perfectly  regular  in  their  operations,  and  as 
the  irregularity  of  these  phenomena  is  one  of  their 
chief  characteristics,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
they  are  not  the  necessary  results  of  the  operation  of 
natural  laws. 

But  these  phenomena  are  the  effects  which  are 
produced  by  the  operation  of  natural  laws  upon  the 
circumstances  which  result  from  human  action.  The 
natural  laws  being  unchangeable,  if  the  circumstances 
upon  which  they  operate  were  regular,  there  would 
be  no  fluctuation  in  human  affairs ;  but  these  circum- 
stances change  with  every  day,  and  hence  it  follows 
clearly,  that  the  variety  and  uncertainty  of  human 
affairs  do  not  result  from  the  uncertainty  or  change-' 
ableness  of  natural  laws,  but  from  the  extreme  variety 
and  changeableness  of  the  circumstances  which  are 
produced  by  human  conduct,  and  upon  which  these 
laws  operate. 

There  have  been  mysterious  phenomena  manifested 
at  different  periods,  which  it  is  impossible  for  us  to 
explain  in  a  satisfactory  manner ;  but  this  is  because 
we  are  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  natural 
laws  which  were  operating  upon  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances which  were  at  the  time  prevailing.  But  this 
one  fact  has,  in  all  cases,  been  observable,  that  in 
order  to  produce  mysterious  phenomena,  it  was  neces- 
sary that  a  peculiar  and  unnatural  train  of  circum- 
stances should  be  existing,  and  that  the  phenomena 
continued  to  be  manifested  while  these  circumstances 
continued  to  exist,  and  ceased  when  they  ceased  to 


S56  MODERN  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

exist.  There  is  not  an  instance  upon  record,  where, 
when  human  conduct  was  controlled  by  enlightened 
reason  and  a  properly  cultivated  nature,  a  single 
phenomenon  has  been  manifested  which  could,  with 
any  show  of  reason,  be  ascribed  to  a  supernatural 
agency.  These  mysterious  phenomena  have  gener- 
ally resulted  from  religious  fanaticism  and  supersti- 
tion ;  thus  conclusively  demonstrating  the  great  out- 
rage that  is  done  to  nature  and  to  the  will  of  God 
by  the  excessive  exercise  of  the  religious  sentiments. 

The  review  of  history  establishes  the  fact,  that 
ignorance  and  the  belief  in  the  false  supernatural, 
have,  in  all  ages,  existed  together,  and,  wherever 
ignorance  has  prevailed  to  the  greatest  extent,  there 
has  this  belief  most  generally  prevailed,  and  so  in- 
variably has  this  been  the  case  that  we  can  not  avoid 
the  conclusion  that  the  latter  is  a  legitimate  conse- 
quence of  the  former.  During  the  middle  ages,  when 
the  profoundest  ignorance  prevailed  in  every  race 
and  tribe  of  man,  the  belief  in  the  false  supernatural 
was  almost  universal.  Christianity,  as  it  existed  in 
those  ages,  was  nothing  but  a  myth  of  error  and 
superstition.  False  miracles  were  innumerable.  The 
bodies  of  departed  saints  became  the  objects  of  wor- 
ship, and  their  bones- were  supposed  to  be  a  secure 
protection  against  the  influence  of  evil  spirits.  All 
believed  in  the  power  of  witches  and  sorcerers ;  and 
demons  and  evil  spirits  were  continually  manifesting 
their  presence  by  the  exercise  of  their  diabolical 
power.  Old  women  were  supposed  to  possess  the 
power  of  making  themselves  invisible,  and  in  this 
state  they  were  transported  to  the  sabbat,  or  the 
council  of  the  demons,  where  they  plotted  against 
the  peace  of  man. 

Thus  we  see  that  during  those  ages  when  mankind 
was  most  ignorant,  the  belief  in  all  kind  of  unnatural 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  357 

existences  most  generally  prevailed.  That  most  of 
the  phenomena  ascribed  to  those  ages  never  had 
any  existence,  we  presume  every  person  will  be 
ready  to  admit.  They  were  the  creations  of  distorted 
imaginations  and  perverted  natural  faculties.  They 
were  the  superstitious  terrors  which  always  roam 
about  in  the  realms  of  ignorance.  When  man  views 
things  through  the  false  medium  of  his  own  gross 
ignorance  and  superstition,  he  ever  has  and  ever 
must  see  frightful  demons  and  unearthly  specters ; 
but  when  he  looks  at  things  through  the  medium  of 
truth  by  the  means  of  enlightened  reason,  no  ghostly 
apparitions  present  themselves  to  his  view,  nor  spec- 
ters nor  spirits  trouble  him  with  their  manifestations. 
Why  is  it  that  all  manner  of  ghosts  and  goblins,  spir- 
its and  demons,  so  infested  the  earth  from  the  tenth 
to  the  fifteenth  centuries,  but  are  now  no  more  heard 
of,  except  a  few  frightened  and  cowardly  spirits,  who 
do  not  dare  to  manifest  themselves  to  any  but  those 
who  are  ignorant  and  credulous  enough  to  believe  in 
them?  Why  is  it  that  these  supernatural  and  dia- 
bolical existences  disappear  from  the  earth  just  as 
soon  as  intelligence  and  enlightened  reason  assume 
the  control  of  human  conduct?  Why  is  it  that  they 
torment,  with  their  mysterious  manifestations,  igno- 
rant persons,  and  even  intelligent  persons,  whose 
minds  are  filled  with  all  manner  of  mystical  and 
superstitious  conceptions,  and  never  dare  to  meddle 
with  persons  of  sound  education,  whose  minds  are 
not  distracted  with  error? 

The  truth  is,  that  most  of  these  appearances  are 
merely  the  creatures  of  disordered  imaginations.  It 
is  a  principle  established  by  the  God  of  nature  that 
when  man  is  thus  deviating  so  far  from  the  princi- 
ples of  truth,  and  thus  rushes  headlong  into  the 
grossest  error  and  absurdity,  the  mind  becomes 


358  MODERN    FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

-      £3  -x/&    ±A<< 

filled  with  mystical  and  superstitious  notions,  and 
these  imaginary  phantoms  appear  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence. They  never  appear  except  when  nature  is 
greatly  outraged,  and  the  mind  is  deluged  in  error. 
As  the  person  who  has  greatly  outraged  his  nature 
by  the  excessive  use  of  artificial  stimulant  has  the 
delirium  tremens,  and  sees  snakes,  and  all  manner 
of  hideous  shapes  and  terrors  vividly  represented 
before  his  mind,  so  the  person  who  has  greatly  out- 
raged his  nature  by  reflecting  upon  and  believing 
gross  errors  and  absurdities  until  the  mind  has  be- 
come perverted  and  distracted  by  the  unnatural  ex- 
ercise, as  a  natural  consequence  he  imagines  that 
he  is  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  unearthly  spirits  and 
specters,  and  these  mental  apparitions  possess  just 
as  much  reality  in  the  one  case  as  the  other.  These 
apparitions  would  seem  to  be  the  hideous  sentinels 
which  nature  has  placed  in  the  desert  wastes  of 
error,  and  which  burrow  in  the  gloomy  dells  of 
superstition,  to  warn  man  that  he  is  wandering  far 
from  the  paths  of  peace  and  truth.  Let  any  person 
who  sees  them  be  assured  that  he  is  very  far  from 
the  straight  and  narrow  way.  They  never  venture 
into  the  light  of  intelligence  and  truth,  which,  shin- 
ing like  a  glorious  sun  in  the  firmament  of  human 
existence,  enables  man  to  walk  forth  with  confidence 
and  without  fear  of  stumbling,  but  they  prowl  about 
in  the  regions  of  mental  darkness  and  superstition, 
and  harrass  and  frighten  those  who  are  traveling  the 
journey  of  life  through  the  dreary  deserts  of  error. 
But  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  every  igno- 
rant person  is  a  deluded  one,  or  that  every  learned 
person  is  a  wise  one,  for  this  is  by  no  means  the 
case.  It  is  not  merely  scientific  lore,  which  confers 
upon  its  possessor  the  inestimable  gift  of  truth,  for 
we  have  seen  that  the  classic  sages  of  antiquity  were 


p  '     , 

MODERN    SPIRITUALISM.  359 

the  dupes  of  the  most  miserable  delusions.  It  is 
that  schooling  of  the  mind,  that  thorough  apprecia- 
tion of  the  principles  of  divine  truth,  which  may  be 
comprehended  by  the  unlettered  man,  and  yet  may 
escape  the  astuteness  of  the  most  learned  philoso- 
pher. Although  the  unlettered  man  may  not  be 
profound  in  the  rules  and  problems  of  human  science, 
yet  the  light  of  truth  may  shine  clearly  in  his 
mind ;  while  again  we  may  master  the  deepest  intri- 
cacies of  science,  and  measure  the  magnitude  of 
distant  worlds,  and  possess  all  the  rich  treasures  of 
physical  and  metaphysical  learning,  and  yet  all 
these  may  only  form  the  clouds  which  obscure  the 
light  of  divine  truth.  Yet  it  is  our  ignorance  which 
leads  us  astray.  We  may  be  learned  in  every  de- 
partment of  human  science,  and  yet  be  ignorant  of 
the  most  important  principles  of  truth.  The  whole 
truth  is  not  an  essential  concomitant  of  science,  nor 
yet  is  it  always  the  reward  of  sincerity.  We  may 
possess  all  the  light  of  human  learning  and  yet  be 
in  utter  darkness  in  regard  to  our  most  essential  in- 
terests. As  man  is  endowed  with  a  twofold  nature, 
the  one  of  which  constitutes  him  a  physical  or  hu- 
man being,  and  the  other  a  spiritual  or  immortal  be- 
ing, so  are  there  two  distinct  departments  of  truth,  the 
one  of  which  relates  to  the  truth  of  this  world,  and 
the  other  to  the  truth  of  a  future  world.  And  as 
the  fullest  perfection  of  our  twofold  nature  can  be 
attained  only  by"  the  proper  exercise  and  harmonious 
gratification  of  both  of  them,  so  can  we  acquire  the 
whole  truth  only  by  earnestly  and  devoutly  studying 
both  its  departments,  the  knowledge  of  the  one  pre- 
venting us  from  running  into  error  in  the  study  of 
the  other,  and  the  knowledge  of  both  affording  a 
clear  and  unwavering  light  by  which  we  can  behold 


360          MODERN  FANCIES  AND.  FOLLIES. 

all  the  beauty  and  loveliness  of  nature,  and  the  per- 
fect goodness  and  beneficence  of  nature's  God. 

The  belief  in  the  false  supernatural  indicates 
ignorance  in  both  departments  of  truth.  As  knowl- 
edge of  spiritual  truth  would  teach  man  the  utter 
absurdity  of  the  belief  in  the  intercourse  of  departed 
spirits  with  human  beings,  and  a  knowledge  of 
physical  truth  would  teach  him  the  physical  causes 
which  produce  the  phenomena  which  are  falsely  at- 
tributed to  spiritual  agency.  We  are  ready  to  admit 
that  there  have  been  phenomena  manifested  in  dif- 
ferent ages  of  the  world,  for  which  physical  science 
is  unable  to  give  a  satisfactory  explanation,  but  we 
are  not  ready  to  place  ourselves  upon  the  platform 
of  the  middle  ages,  and  attribute  to  the  intercourse 
of  supernatural  agency  every  phenomena  of  which 
we  do  not  understand  the  natural  cause.  Must  we 
say  that,  because  man  through  his  ignorance  can 
not  satisfactorily  explain  a  certain  phenomena,  it  is 
not  the  result  of  the  natural  government  of  God, 
but  the  freak  of  some  straggling  ghost  or  rollicking 
spirit?  But  physical  science  has  made  sufficient 
progress  to  explain  most  of  the  phenomena  which 
ignorance  has  attributed  to  supernatural  intercourse, 
and  of  those  which  science  does  not  explain  the  pre- 
cise cause,  it  is  sufficiently  demonstrated  that  they 
are  the  phantoms  of  error,  which  result  from  the 
abuse  and  perversion  of  the  faculties  of  our  nature. 

But  let  us  adduce  a  few  facts  in  regard  to  popular 
delusions  which  have  swept  multitudes  before  them, 
in  order  to  show  that  this  new-born  delusion  of  the 
rapping  spirits  is  not  the  only  one  which  has  ship- 
wrecked the  confidence  of  men,  and  led  them  into 
error.  We  will  first  notice  the  Cevenol  prophets,  or 


MODERN    SPIRITUALISM.  361 

Camisards,  who  flourished  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  Space  will  permit  us  to  make 
but  a  single  quotation,  which  shall  be  a  fair  sample 
of  the  whole  record.  These  facts  are  gathered  from 
the  very  fountain-head,  and  are  well  authenticated. 
Elie  Marion  thus  records  his  experience: 

"  When  the  spirit  of  God  takes  possession  of  me, 
I  feel  a  great  warmth  in  my  heart,  and  its  vicinity, 
which  is  sometimes  preceded  by  a  shuddering  of 
the  whole  body.  At  other  times  it  seizes  me  all  of 
a  sudden,  without  my  experiencing  any  presentiment 
of  it.  When  I  find  myself  seized,  my  eyes  immedi- 
ately close,  and  this  spirit  causes  an  agitation  of  my 
body,  making  me  sigh  heavily,  and  giving  vent  to 
broken  sobs,  as  though  I  had  difficulty  in  breathing. 
I  quite  often  experience  very  severe  shocks,  which 
are  unaccompanied  by  any  sensations  of  pain,  nor  do 
they  deprive  me  of  the  power  to  think.  I  remain  in 
this  condition  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  either  more 
or  less,  before  I  utter  a  single  word.  Indeed  I  feel 
that  this  spirit  performs  in  my  mouth,  the  words  he 
wishes  to  make  me  pronounce,  and  which  are  almost 
always  accompanied  by  some  extraordinary  agitation 
or  motion,  or,  at  least,  by  great  fear.  There  are 
times  when  the  first  word  that  I  am  to  pronounce  is 
already  formed  in  my  mind ;  but  as  a  general  rule, 
I  am  ignorant  of  what  is  to  be  the  termination  of  the 
word  the  spirit  makes  me  commence.  It  sometimes 
happens  that  I  think  I  am  about  to  pronounce  a 
word  or  a  sentence,  when  my. voice  utters  only  an 
inarticulate  sound." 

These  are  not  exactly  rapping  spirits,  or  such  as 
make  tables  dance,  or  pianos  stand  on  their  hind  legs, 
but  it  appears  that  they  have  much  more  complete 
control  of  their  victims.  It  seems  strange,  indeed, 
that  the  religion  of  Christ  should  have  such  an  effect 
31 


362  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

upon  its  professors,  yet  all  this  resulted  from  nothing 
else  but  religious  frenzy.  The  Christian  religion  did 
not  thus  affect  the  apostles,  nor  does  it  at  present 
affect  its  sincerest  professor  in  this  manner.  These 
Camisard  prophets  saw  visions,  had  trances,  convul- 
sions, and  ecstacies,  spoke  in  strange  tongues,  and 
very  frequently  expressed  thought,  and  spoke  in 
strains  of  eloquence,  which  very  far  surpassed  their 
natural  abilities.  They  professed  to  receive  special 
inspirations  from  God.  A  person  who  was  inspired, 
breathed  into  the  mouth  of  one  who  was  to  receive  that 
spirit  of  prophesy,  and  said:  '"Receive  the  holy  spirit," 
and  immediately  the  newly  elected  began  to  speak 
by  the  spirit,  and  was  capable  of  transmitting  the 
inspiration  to  other  aspirants.  Yet  these  inspira- 
tions soon  passed  away,  the  Camisards  ceased  to 
have  trances  and  convulsions  as  soon  as  they  re- 
turned to  religious  moderation,  and  from  raving 
maniacs  they  became  humble  Christians,  shuddering 
at  the  very  thoughts  of  their  past  errors  and  delu- 
sions. Who  will  dare  assert  that  the  miserable  de- 
lusion of  the  Camisards  was  the  result  of  Divine  in- 
spiration? yet  this  would  be  more  reasonable  than  to 
assert  the  spirituality  of  the  rapping  phenomena  of 
the  present  day. 

We  will  next  briefly  notice  the  Jansenists,  or  the 
convulsionaries  of  St.  Medard.  This  delusion  pre- 
vailed in  France  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  like  that  of  the  Camisards,  it  resulted 
from  religious  error  and  fanaticism,  and  the  phenom- 
ena manifested  during  the  prevalence  of  both  were 
very  similar,  the  difference  naturally  resulting  from 
the  different  circumstances  under  which  they  pre- 
vailed. Here  again  we  meet  with  ecstacies,  convul- 
sions, trance-speaking,  speaking  strange  languages, 
elegant  language  and  eloquence  from  the  most  illit- 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  363 

erate  persons,  etc.  The  facts  are  these :  the  Deacon 
Pris,  who  died  in  1727,  was  regarded  with  the  most 
holy  reverence  by  his  followers  on  account  of  the 
incredible  austerities  which  he  practiced,  and  the 
zeal  with  which  he  opposed  an  unpopular  decree  or 
bull  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Pontiff.  His  tomb  was 
visited  with  as  much  devoutness  as  the  sepulcher  of 
Christ,  pieces  of  the  furniture  he  had  used  were 
cherished  as  holy  relics,  the  earth  which  surrounded 
his  grave  was  supposed  to  possess  a  potent  influence, 
which  threw  those  who  swallowed  a  small  portion  of 
it  into  trances  and  convulsions,  in  the  midst  of  which 
they  acted  like  maniacs,  but  spoke  words  of  inspira- 
tion. An  infirm  person  having  been  placed  upon  the 
venerated  tomb  was  seized  with  convulsions.  The 
news  of  this  supposed  miracle  spread,  and  with  it 
the  epidemic,  and  thousands  of  invalids  resorted  to 
the  cemetery  of  St.  Medard  to  be  healed.  These 
violent  convulsions  afforded  relief  to  a  few  of  the 
sick,  and  others  naturally  recovered  their  health, 
and  this  was  sufficient  to  spread  abroad  the  report 
that  all  the  sick  were  healed  merely  by  touching  the 
tomb.  But  let  us  have  some  of  the  phenomena. 
We  quote  from  Montgeron,  the  best  authoity  on  the 
subject.  Geoffrey,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  delusion 
thus  expresses  himself: 

"  The  convulsive  movements  to  which  I  submitted, 
without  losing  consciousness,  obliged  me  to  beat  my 
feet  against  the  ground,  the  pavement,  or  the  marble 
of  the  tomb.  I  could  not  prevent  these  movements. 
Sometimes  my  head  tottered  and  turned  a  long  while, 
sometimes  my  arms  grew  stiff  and  rigid.  At  other 
limes  I  threw  them  about  on  all  sides,  and  my  body 
often  turned  round  and  round  as  though  on  a  pivot. 
The  pains  I  suffered  were  beyond  any  thing  I  can 
express.  The  same  movements  took  place  at  the 


364:  MODERN    FANCIES    AND    FOLLIES. 

house,  with  this  difference,  that  they  were  not  so  in- 
tense. I  have  been  assured,  that  in  the  fit  in  which 
I  lost  consciousness,  my  eyes  rolled  back,  and  all  the 
movements  I  have  already  mentioned  were  much 
more  violent.  I  invariably  felt  some  relief  after  the 
convulsions,  and  this  relief  was  greatest  after  the 
most  violent  shock." 

The  same  author  gives  the  following  declaration 
of  the  girl  Fourcroy  :  "  Having  entered  into  the 
cemetery  of  St.  Medard,  I  was  struck  with  terror  at 
the  cries  of  suffering,  and  the  howls  that  reached  my 
ears  from  the  convulsionaries  in  the  cemetery  and 
under  the  charnel-house,  whereupon  I  thought  I 
would  go  away  without  approaching  the  tomb  of  the 
deacon ;  but  being  encouraged  by  the  person  who 
accompanied  me,  I  sat  down  upon  it.  Almost  at  the 
same  instant  I  was  seized  with  a  shudder,  and  shortly 
after  with  a  great  agitation  in  my  limbs,  which  made 
my  whole  body  spring  into  the  .air,  and  gave  me  a 
strength  I  have  never  felt  before.  In  the  course  of 
these  violent  motions,  which  were  real  convulsions, 
I  lost  consciousness.  As  soon  as  they  had  passed 
away,  and  my  senses  were  restored  to  me,  I  felt  a 
tranquility,  and  an  internal  peace  hitherto  unknown." 

There  is  nothing  in  the  least  unnatural  in  this  girl 
having  convulsions  upon  taking  her  seat  upon  the 
tomb  with  her  mind  in  such  a  state  of  feeling,  and 
surrounded  by  such  circumstances.  But  there  are 
other  phenomena  recorded  in  connection  with  this  de- 
lusion which  we  can  not  be  induced  to  believe,  although 
they  seem  to  be  sustained  by  reliable  evidence,  and 
even  admitted  by  the  enemies  of  the  convulsionaries. 
Such  as  this:  "Jeanne  Mouler,  a  young  woman  of 
twenty-two  or  three  years  of  age,  having  supported 
herself  against  the  wall,  one  of  the  stoutest  men 
seized  a  fire-dog,  weighing,  it  is  said,  twenty-five  or 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  365 

thirty  pounds,  and  struck  her  powerful  blows  in  the 
stomach.  This  operation  was  repeated  on  various 
occasions,  and  at  one  time  more  than  a  hundred  blows 
were  counted.  Another  day  having  given  her  sixty, 
he  tried  the  effect  of  similar  blows  on  the  wall,  and 
it  is  stated  that  at  the  twenty-fifth  blow  he  made  an 
opening  in  it."  The  same  author  continues :  "  The 
exercise  of  the  plank  succeeded.  They  placed  upon 
the  convulsionary,  lying  on  the  ground,  a  plank, 
which  entirely  covered  her ;  then,  as  many  men 
mounted  on  this  plank  as  it  could  hold.  The  con- 
vulsionary bore  them  all.  More  than  twenty  men 
have  been  seen  together  on  this  plank,  which  was 
supported  by  the  body  of  a  young  convulsionary." 
And  all  this  instead  of  giving  them  pain,  only 
afforded  them  relief. 

-  It  may  be  that  our  nature  may  be  perverted  to  that 
degree  which,  operating  with  some  unknown  physical 
cause,  may  produce  these  effects,  but  our  skepticism 
upon  this  point  is  insurmountable.  Why  is  it,  that 
we  no  longer  hear  of  the  miracles  and  convulsions  of 
Saint  Medard?  We  now  no  more  hear  of  persons 
being  placed  upon  the  venerated  tomb,  and  by  its 
supernatural  or  diabolical  influences,  being  trans- 
formed into  raging  demoniacs.  A  person  whose  mind 
is  free  from  the  delusion  and  free  from  epidemical 
influences,  might  sit  there  until  the  sounding  of  the 
last  trump,  and  he  would  not  receive  inspiration,  or 
become  capable  of  withstanding  the  blows  of  the 
fire-dog. 

But  let  us  pass  to  the  Ursulines  of  Loudun.  Here 
•we  have  another  religious  delusion,  producing  the 
most  melancholy  and  disastrous  results.  How  fear- 
fully does  God  punish  the  excesses  into  which  man  is 
led  by  false  religion.  All  these  delusions  resulted 
directly  from  the  perversion  of  the  Christian  religion. 


366  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

The  city  of  Loudun  contained  one  of  those  large 
convents  of  nuns  founded  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
under  the  patronage  of  the  English  Saint  Ursula. 
According  to  the  established  regulations  of  these 
nunneries,  the  inmates  were  entirely  secluded  from 
the  world,  deprived  of  all  useful  and  virtuous  occupa- 
tion, and  their  time  was  spent  in  brooding  over  the 
most  gloomy  and  austere  superstitions. 

It  is  related  that  some  of  the  younger  nuns,  whose 
joyous  nature  rebelled  against  the  unnatural  re- 
straint, amused  themselves  by  terrifying  their  com- 
panions. Arraying  themselves  in  the  supposed  habi- 
liments of  ghosts,  they  passed  along  the  roof  and 
entered  the  apartments  of  their  unsuspecting  sisters. 
This,  together  with  the  state  of  feeling  which  pre- 
vailed in  the  nunnery,  was  sufficient  to  produce 
ghosts  and  goblins  in  abundance.  Then  the  nuns,  as 
the  nervous  excitement  increased,  became  possessed 
of  witches  and  devils  ;  they  leaped  and  howled,  per- 
formed surprising  feats  of  strength,  and  exhibited  a 
most  frightful  and  disgusting  spectacle.  It  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  authorities ;  intelligent  and  sin- 
cere men  became  its  dupes,  and  Urbain  Grandier,  a 
noble  and  brilliant  cure,  was  convicted  of  witchcraft, 
and  burned  at  the  stake.  We  should  notice  that 
•when  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux  ordered  the  se- 
questration of  the  demoniacs,  and  threatened  to 
punish  those  who  should  yield  to  the  supposed  machi- 
nations of  the  devil,  all  their  ravings  immediately 
ceased.  The  demons  which  appeared  to  be  so  very 
unruly  while  they  were  permitted  to  have  their  own 
way,  became  perfectly  docile  when  they  were  prop- 
erly managed.  The  only  real  devils  or  witches  that 
had  any  thing  to  do  with  the  possessions  of  Loudun 
were  the  nuns  themselves. 
.  But  why  need  we  dwell  upon  the  delusions  which 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  867 

have  existed  in  other  countries.  We  have  had  a 
Cotton  Mather  and  a  Salem  witchcraft  in  our  own, 
and  the  fairest  temple  of  liberty  ever  reared  by  man 
is  stained  with  the  blood  of  twenty  innocent  victims, 
executed  as  witches.  Every  American  reader  is 
familiar  with  the  facts  of  the  Salem  Witchcraft,  and 
we  shall  not  repeat  them.  It  does  not  differ  materi- 
ally from  the  possessions  of  Loudun,  except,  per- 
haps, the  phenomena  which  attended  the  latter  were 
more  mysterious  and  more  strongly  manifested  than 
those  of  the  former.  It  seems  to  us  that  our  Amer- 
ican witchcraft  is  the  shallowest  of  all  delusions  that 
have  ever  misled  intelligent  men.  They  were  de- 
ceived by  the  voluntary  ravings  of  mere  children, 
and  the  pranks  of  the  little  unconscious  deceivers 
were  fostered  and  sustained  by  their  parents,  and 
particularly  by  the  clergy.  How  very  natural  would 
it  be  for  children  to  make  grimaces,  and  perform  fran- 
tic capers,  when  they  perceived  that  thereby  they 
became  the  center  of  attraction  and  sympathy, 
which  is  so  exceedingly  gratifying  to  youthful  van- 
ity. In  the  state  of  feeling  which  prevailed,  every 
person  who  did  not  sympathize  with  the  "  afflicted  " 
children,  was  in  danger  of  being  hanged  as  a  witch. 
It  would  probably  have  cost  any  person  his  life  to 
question  the  existence  of  witches,  or  that  these 
children  were  bewitched,  and  it  was  this  state  of 
feeling  alone  which  sustained  the  delusion. 

There  can  not  be  the  slightest  doubt  that  the  delu- 
sion would  have  ceased  the  very  moment  that  the 
children  were  punished  instead  of  petted  for  their 
deception.  But  upon  the  capricious  evidence  of 
these  bewitched  children,  persons  were  hanged.  If 
the  children  declared  that  any  person  had  bewitched 
them,  or  commenced  screaming,  or  went  into  affected 
convulsions  when  any  person  came  into  their  pres- 


S68  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

ence,  pious  clergymen  and  learned  judges  declared 
this  sufficient  evidence  to  sustain  a  conviction,  and, 
consequently,  the  persons  thus  accused  by  the  juve- 
nile devils  were  forthwith  executed  as  witches.  A 
female  of  most  undoubted  piety,  who  had  sense 
enough  to  become  disgusted  with  the  pulpit  aberra- 
tions of  minister  Paris,  and  quietly  retired  from  the 
church,  was,  for  this  reason,  sent  to  prison  as  a  witch. 
But  we  need  not  dwell  upon  the  particulars  of  this 
terrible  and  irrational  delusion.  In  a  few  short 
weeks  it  passed  away ;  then  came  the  retribution  of 
the  outraged  community.  Judge  Sewall,  who  had 
sentenced  the  victims  to  death,  stood  up  in  church  at 
Boston,  on  fast  day,  and  asked  forgiveness  of  God 
and  the  people.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Paris,  although  in 
deep  shame  and  sorrow  he  confessed  his  errors,  and 
earnestly  sought  to  regain  public  confidence,  was 
discharged  from  the  ministry,  and  Cotton  Mather  was 
hooted  at  by  the  boys,  and  pelted  with  stones. 

If  any  further  evidence  was  required  to  prove 
the  human  origin  of  these  popular  delusions,  it 
would  certainly  be  furnished  by  the  manner  in  which 
they  adapt  themselves  to  the  state  of  public  feeling 
which  is  prevailing  at  the  time  they  exist.  They  in- 
variably carry  upon  them  the  impress  of  their  nativ- 
ity. The  old  Puritans  of  New  England  believed  in 
the  power  of  the  devil.  They  believed,  practically, 
that  all  the  evil  existing  in  the  world  resulted  from 
the  power  of  the  devil,  and  all  the  good  resulted  from 
the  power  of  God.  If  we  are  to  accept  this  as  the 
order  of  things,  and  judge  from  the  amount  of  good 
and  evil  existing  in  the  world,  his  satanic  majesty 
has  it  all  quite  his  own  way,  and  the  Creator  is  ou 
of  office.  Hence  we  find  that  this  delusion,  devel 
oping  itself  in  the  midst  of  this  popular  belief,  con 
forms  itself  entirely  to  it ;  and  instead  of  attributing 


MODERN    SPIRITUALISM.  369 

the  manifestations  to  the  influence  of  the  spirit  of 
God,  as  did  the  Camisards  and  Jansenists,  they  at- 
tributed them  directly  to  the  power  of  their  most 
potent  ruler — the  devil.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  these  "  afflicted "  children  had  been  frightened 
a  thousand  times  with  hideous  stories  about  the  "bad 
man,"  and  particularly  taught  that  witches  were  his 
special  agents,  and  operated  directly  through  his 
power. 

It  was  the  same  with  regard  to  the  Ursulines  of 
Loudun.  The  rigid  austerities  of  convent  life,  with 
all  its  gloomy  superstitions,  very  naturally  led  to  the 
belief  in  the  existence  of  a  diabolical  power.  They, 
too,  believed  in  the  potent  energies  of  the  devil,  and 
in  their  misdirected  efforts  to  resist  his  influence,  they 
waged  a  continual  warfare  against  their  own  nature. 
How  could  it  be  otherwise,  then,  that  when  they 
were  seized  with  convulsions  and  ecstasies,  and 
surrounded  by  preternatural  phenomena,  that  they 
should  regard  them  as  diabolical  visitations? 

But  a  purer  religious  belief  prevailed  among  the 
Camisards  and  Jansenists.  But  although  this  sen- 
timent was  directed  to  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the 
universe,  instead  of  the  prince  of  darkness,  yet  it 
was  carried  to  that  extreme  which  destroys  the  bal- 
ance of  human  nature.  They  gave  themselves  up  so 
exclusively  and  intensely  to  the  practice  of  religious 
devotions,  that  a  derangement  of  the  natural  faculties 
was  the  inevitable  consequence;  and  hence  followed 
the  mysterious  phenomena  which  led  them  into  such 
miserable  delusions.  How  indubitably  does  this  estab- 
lish the  principles  contended  for  in  the  last  preceding 
essay?  God,  in  his  infinite  wisdom,  has  precisely 
adapted  the  constitution  of  human  nature  to  the  con- 
dition of  surrounding  circumstances,  and  whenever 
man  violates  the  provisions  of  this  grand  scheme  by 


370  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

running  into  excessive  religiousness,  he  violates  the 
will  of  his  Creator,  and  destroys  the  equilibrium  of 
his  own  nature.  We  can  only  offer  acceptable  service 
to  God  by  yielding  obedience  to  the  established  laws 
of  his  natural  government;  and,  therefore,  it  is  just 
as  wrong  to  carry  religion  to  excess  as  it  is  to  indulge 
in  any  other  viciousness,  for  excessive  religiousness 
is  one  of  the  worst  vices  that  ever  cursed  the  human 
race.  Where  has  there  ever  existed  any  true  religion 
within  the  walls  of  a  convent?  Who  that  has  eyes 
to  look  forth  upon  the  glorious  scenes  of  nature,  and 
reason  to  comprehend  the  scheme  of  human  happi- 
ness, can  suppose  that  true  religion  can  be  enjoyed 
in  the  gloomy  seclusion  of  the  monastery? 

All  the  delusions  which  we  have  noticed,  the  re- 
ligious frenzy  which,  but  a  few  years  ago,  prevailed 
in  Kentucky,  those  of  Sweden  arid  Norway,  some 
symptoms  of  which  yet  prevail,  and  many  others 
which  we  might  notice  were  it  necessary,  are  all  the 
effects  of  the  same  cause.  Nature  forbids  man  to 
divert  his  attention  from  all  the  other  duties  which 
God  requires  of  him,  and  run  into  religious  excesses, 
and,  whenever  he  does  this,  she  checks  his  reckless 
course  by  means  of  her  fearful  penalties.  Whenever 
the  spirit  of  true  religion  is  crushed  out  by  cold  and 
blighting  superstition  and  sinful  religious  auster- 
ities, whenever  man  is  wandering  far  from  the  path 
of  nature,  he  is  seized  with  convulsions  and  ecstasies, 
or  tormented  by  witches  and  devils.  Behold  in  this 
the  ever-watchful  guidance  of  an  overruling  Provi- 
dence. Whenever  man  would  bring  upon  himself 
unsupportable  misery,  and  rush  to  his  own  destruc- 
tion by  the  violation  of  natural  laws,  he  is  fright- 
ened back  into  the  paths  of  duty  and  the  way  of 
truth  by  the  phantoms  of  his  own  imagination : 
"  0  Lord,  how  manifold  are  thy  works !  in  wisdom 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  371 

hast  thou  made  them  all:  the  earth  is  full  of  thy 
riches." 

Thus  have  we  briefly  noticed  a  few  of  the  delusions 
•which  have  distracted  human  beings  in  modern  times, 
and  the  phenomena  which  have  been  attributed  to 
supernatural  agency.  When  we  come  to  investigate 
these  matters  closely  and  unmask  the  delusion,  we 
find  we  have  been  entirely  unsuccessful  in  our  efforts 
to  capture  a  live  ghost  or  devil.  Howsoever  much  a 
pair  of  these  might  contribute  to  the  treasures  of 
natural  science,  or  add  to  our  collections  of  wild 
animals,  our  explorations  into  the  regions  of  mystery 
have  not  yet  enabled  us  to  make  the  valuable  con- 
tribution. As  we  have  pursued  them  they  have 
retreated  back  and  back  into  their  invisible  abodes, 
and,  although  we  have  discovered  huge  tracks  in  the 
sands  of  time,  and  found  ominous  signs  where  they 
had  been  prowling  about  in  human  spheres,  yet  the 
veritable  animal  itself  has  invariably  eluded  our  most 
earnest  and  careful  searches.  They  have  caused 
great  agitations  in  the  ocean  of  human  life,  they 
have  mercilessly  tormented  helpless  women  and 
children,  and  they  have  laid  in  ambush,  and  sud- 
denly made  vigorous  attacks  upon  grave  and  serious 
men,  as  they  were  making  sturdy  combat  against  sin 
and  the  devil;  but  always,  when  we  think  we  are 
just  about  to  seize  the  coveted  prize,  we  find  that 
it  is  not  there. 

But  we  must  confess  that,  in  our  devil-hunt,  we 
have  learned  something  of  the  nature  and  habits  of 
the  animal.  We  have  discovered  that  he  is  very 
cunning,  and  possessed  of  a  sound  discretion.  Pie 
has  invariably  played  his  pranks  and  made  his  at- 
tacks upon  persons  who  were  not  armed  with  the 
equipments  of  truth,  and  whose  minds  were  just  in 


372  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

that  state  of  feeling  which  would  cause  them  to  be- 
come his  easy  prey.  Demonology  furnishes  us  no  in- 
stance in  which  these  denizens  of  the  unknown  world 
have  meddled  in  the  slightest  degree  with  any  person 
of  sound  intelligence  and  true  religion.  But  as  the 
deep  gloom  of  ignorance  settled  down  upon  the  human 
race,  their  visits  became  more  frequent,  and  the  won- 
ders they  performed  more  startling.  Oh,  how  they 
reveled  and  caroused  upon  this  unfortunate  earth  of 
ours  during  the  dark  night  of  the  middle  ages.  They 
held  a  kind  of  infernal  Sabbat,  which  lasted  for  more 
than  five  hundred  years.  But  when  the  first  glim- 
merings of  approaching  day  began  to  appear  in  the 
social  horizon,  and  the  sun  of  knowledge  in  the  gray 
dawn  of  morning  began  to  shed  a  few  struggling 
beams  of  light  upon  the  human  race,  how  these 
devilish  phantoms  began  to  scamper  back  to  their 
infernal  dens,  and,  as  this  sun  rose  majestically  into 
the  firmament  of  science  and  learning,  and  man, 
guided  by  its  refulgent  light,  began  to  see  his  way 
in  all  the  walks  of  life,  then  witches,  and  sorcerers, 
and  all  the  hosts  of  supernatural  phantoms  began  to 
lose  their  diabolical  potency,  and  have,  we  trust, 
all  taken  their  final  exit  from  human  spheres,  except 
a  few  rapping  devils,  and  we  hope  we  shall  soon  be 
able  to  furnish  them  with  an  outfit  and  a  passport 
for  their  safe  return  to  the  kingdom  of  his  satanic 
majesty.  Somehow  or  other  it  has  always  happened 
that  these  stray  devils  have  always  come  "  bobbing 
around  "  just  at  the  very  time  when  outraged  nature 
would  no  longer  submit  to  the  gross  violations  which 
were  being  perpetrated  against  her,  and  ignorant 
and  deluded  persons  have  attributed  the  fearful  pen- 
alties which  she  administered  to  the  intervention  of 
supernatural  agency. 

But  what  is  the  essential  difference  between  the 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  873 

old  superannuated  delusions  which  we  have  just  ex- 
amined, and  this  new-born  humbug,  which  is  just 
now  performing  such  startling  wonders  under  the 
auspices  of  the  rapping  spirits.  What  new  super- 
natural visitors  are  these,  which,  disclaiming  all 
allegiance  with  the  devil,  and  being  independent  of 
the  laws  of  God,  announce  themselves  to  us  as  the 
departed  spirits  of  dead  men,  and  which  find  de- 
voted believers  even  in  this  age  of  learning  and 
among  persons  of  considerable  intelligence  ?  Our 
acquaintance  with  them  is  rather  limited,  as  it  has 
been  but  a  short  time  since  they  condescended  to  be 
on  visiting  terms  with  us  mortal  beings,  and  during 
this  time,  although  they  have  manifested  their  pres- 
ence among  us  in  a  very  familiar  manner,  and  pryed 
rather  closely  into  other  people's  business,  yet,  as 
far  as  regards  their  individual  selves,  they  have  not 
manifested  any  very  remarkable  social  qualities. 

By  means  of  their  earthly  mediums  they  can  prat- 
tle about  subjects  of  the  greatest  difficulty  and  ob- 
scurity in  regard  to  the  affairs  of  mortal  beings, 
but  as  to  what  they  are  themselves,  whence  they 
came,  or  whither  they  go,  they  obstinately  persist 
in  maintaining  the  most  perplexing  silence.  We 
think  this  is  very  ungentlemanly  in  them,  at  least,  for 
they  find  out  all  our  secrets,  and  will  not  tell  us  any 
of  theirs.  They  can  tell  us  all  about  the  little  un- 
important affairs  of  our  own  spheres,  with  the  greatest 
ease,  but  they  can  not  give  us  the  slightest  intelli- 
gence as  to  the  nature  of  the  spheres  which  they 
themselves  inhabit.  They  know  all  about  our  world, 
but  nothing  about  their  own. 

Now,  here  is  proof  absolutely  conclusive,  that  all 
these  phenomena  originate  in  the  human  mind,  <jr 
result  from  the  operation  of  its  faculties.  We  find 
that  these  pretended  spirits  are  very  familiar  with 


374  MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

all  the  affairs  of  this  world,  with  which  they,  as  de- 
parted spirits,  can  have  no  reasonable  opportunities  to 
become  conversant,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  they 
are  perfectly  ignorant  of  all  the  affairs  and  circum- 
stances which  exist  in  the  world  in  which  they  pre- 
tend to  dwell.  Now,  the  information  which  is  fur- 
nished by  these  spiritual  manifestations,  is  precisely 
such  as  comes  within  the  province  of  human  know- 
ledge, and  whenever  the  information  desired  is  be- 
yond the  limits  of  this  province,  these  pretended 
spirits  can  no  more  furnish  it  than  mortal  beings. 
It  is  of  very  little  importance  to  man  to  have  the 
spiritual  intelligences  indicate  to  him  certain  names 
or  numbers  always  known  to  some  of  the  company 
present,  but  it  would  be  of  the  utmost  importance  to 
him,  if  they  would  furnish  him  with  reliable  informa- 
tion, as  to  the  nature  and  condition  of  things  as  they 
exist  in  the  future  world,  of  which  they  pretend  to 
be  the  denizens.  But  no  such  information  in  any 
reliable  shape  is  pretended  to  be  given,  and,  there- 
fore, as  the  information  given  is  entirely  human  in 
its  character,  it  is  certain  that  there  is  no  spiritual 
or  superhuman  intelligence  employed  in  imparting  it, 
but  its  character  clearly  indicates  that  it  is  molded 
in  the  human  mind. 

But  what  are  the  phenomena?  It  is  supposed  that 
they  are  so  familiar  to  every  reader,  that  minute 
detail  in  this  place  would  be  superfluous.  It  is  well 
known  that  by  forming  a  circle  round  a  table  in  the 
proper  manner,  raps  are  produced,  numbers  are  in- 
dicated, words  are  spelled  out,  and  in  this  manner 
information  is  imparted,  which  for  all  that  persons 
ignorant  of  the  true  cause  can  see,  is  not  produced 
by  human  power,  and,  therefore,  they  believe  it  must 
be  produced  by  supernatural  power,  and  as  they  can 
not  think  of  any  thing  that  is  more  likely  to  be  en- 


MODERN    SPIRITUALISM.  375 

gaged  in  such  business,  they  have  attributed  all  these 
manifestations  to  the  intermeddling  in  human  affairs 
of  the  spirits  of  deceased  human  beings.  Now,  we 
are  ready  to  admit  that  these  phenomena  are  pro- 
duced. But  let  it  be  distinctly  understood,  that  we 
do  not  assert  that  all  the  pretended  manifestations 
of  spiritualism  are  real  phenomena,  for  we  are  well 
aware  that  many  of  them  are  produced  by  fraud  ;  but 
at  the  same  time  an  investigation  of  this  subject  has 
convinced  us  that  phenomena  of  this  character  may 
be  produced  without  resorting  to  fraud. 

The  whole  subject  seems  so  thoroughly  ridiculous 
to  educated  and  reflecting  minds,  that  it  has  almost 
entirely  escaped  scientific  scrutiny,  and  while  it  was 
thus  left  undisturbed,  it  was  actively  engaged  in  for- 
tifying itself  in  the  public  mind.  It  must  be  confes- 
sed that  this  delusion  came  before  the  public,  armed 
with  very  dangerous  powers,  and  while  these  powers 
were  not  comprehended,  as  they  could  not  be  by  the 
masses  of  the  people,  it  possessed  all  the  qualities 
which  were  requisite  to  insure  it  a  wide-spread  suc- 
cess. When  it  came  before  the  people  with  its  mys- 
terious rapping,  elevating  tables,  and  tilting  pianos, 
without  the  employment  of  any  visible  physical  force, 
it  was  calculated  to  have  a  decided  effect  upon  very 
serious  minds,  and  while  it  could  not  be  accounted 
for  upon  natural  principles,  and  the  operation  of  no 
human  power  could  be  detected,  it  seemed  as  though 
we  were  obliged  to  adopt  the  last  and  only  theory 
by  which  it  could  be  accounted  for,  that  of  the  inter- 
vention of  supernatural  agency.  Those  who  could 
not  laugh  at  it  were  very  apt  to  become  proselytes 
to  the  new  doctrine.  But,  notwithstanding  the  laugh- 
ing ;  the  rapping  and  tilting  still  went  on.  The  phe- 
nomena gave  very  strange  evidence  that  they  were 
spiritual  manifestations,  and  the  advocates  of  the  new 


376  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

doctrine  pushed  their  opponents  upon  the  very  un- 
comfortable dilemma,  that  they  must  either  explain 
their  natural  or  human  origin,  or  admit  their  spirit- 
uality. 

By  means  of  these  arguments,  sustained  by  the 
powerful  aid  of  the  phenomena,  no  satisfactory  phy- 
sical cause  of  which  could  be  assigned,  the  delusion 
has  rapidly  spread.  Perhaps  no  one  delusion  has 
ever  before  so  widely  prevailed.  It  has  its  confident 
believers  in  almost  every  country  upon  the  globe. 
In  our  own  country  it  has  spread  throughout  its 
length  and  breadth.  Here  it  is  sustained  by  upward 
of  one  hundred  published  works,  consisting  of  books 
and  pamphlets,  and  also  by  twelve  weekly  journals 
and  four  monthly  magazines,  all  devoted  exclusively 
to  the  dissemination  and  establishment  of  the  so-called 
spiritual  philosophy.  Thus  it  stands  forth  the  mon- 
ster delusion  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  only  attempt  which  has  been  made  in  the 
United  States  to  rebuke  this  delusion,  was  made  by 
denying  the  integrity  of  the  facts  upon  which  it  is 
founded,  and  charging  that  all  fts  phenomena  are 
produced  by  fraud.  This  was  occasioned  by  an  offer 
of  five  hundred  dollars  made  by  the  proprietors  of  the 
Boston  Courier,  to  be  paid  to  any  person  or  persons 
who  should  produce  the  phenomena  before  a  commit- 
tee of  learned  gentlemen,  named  by  them,  without 
employing  physical  force  or  fraud.  This  led  to  the 
Cambridge  investigation.  But  such  investigations 
can  never  explode  the  delusion  of  Modern  Spiritual- 
ism. If  they  have  discovered  that  similar  pheno- 
mena are  sometimes  produced  by  fraud,  this  does  not 
account  for  the  real  phenomena,  in  the  production 
of  which  no  fraud  can  be  detected  simply,  because 
none  is  used.  The  spiritualist  failed  to  produce  the 
phenomena  before  the  investigating  committee,  for 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  377 

reasons  which  we  shall  hereafter  explain.  The 
natural  law  which  governs  their  production  was  vio- 
lated, and,  consequently,  failure  was  inevitable.  But, 
because  they  were  not  produced  before  the  committee 
where  the  necessary  conditions  were  not  complied 
with,  it  does  not  follow  that  all  the  phenomena  which 
are  produced,  when  they  are  complied  with,  are  pro- 
duced by  fraud.  Yet,  notwithstanding,  the  spirits 
obstinately  refused  to  display  their  power  before  the 
Cambridge  investigators,  they  are  by  no  means  back- 
ward in  manifesting  themselves  upon  other  occasions. 
But  why  is  this?  We  shall  see;  and  in  the  course 
of  the  investigation,  the  natural  cause  which  pro- 
duces them  will  be  explained. 

Count  de  Gasparin  has  more  thoroughly  investi- 
gated the  subject  of  table-rapping  and  tilting  than 
any  other  person  whose  experiments  are  recorded. 
But  let  it  not  be  supposed  that  his  experiments  stand 
unsustained,  for  other  scientific  men,  in  various  parts 
of  Europe,  have  made  the  same  experiments,  and  ob- 
tained the  same  results.  His  object  was  to  produce 
the  phenomena  upon  which  spiritualism  is  founded 
without  the  exertion  of  any  known  physical  force, 
or  by  invoking  the  aid  of  supernatural  agency.  He 
proceeded  in  the  same  manner  that  the  spiritualists 
proceed,  when  they  design  to  invoke  the  presence  of 
departed  spirits.  He  formed  a  circle  of  experiments 
around  a  table,  and,  after  a  few  unsuccessful  trials, 
raps  were  produced.  As  the  experiments  progressed, 
the  raps  reproduced  numbers  ;  that  is,  one  of  the  per- 
sons forming  the  circle  would  have  a  certain  number 
in  his  mind,  and  then  mentally  command  the  table  to 
indicate  this  number,  which  would  be  done  by  rap- 
ping out  a  certain  number  of  raps  without  the  employ- 
ment of  any  visible  physical  force.  But  here  we  must 
uote  an  important  fact.  Two  persons  sitting  on  op- 
32 


378  MODERN    FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

posite  sides  of  the  table  were  directed  to  each  think 
of  a  number  (the  number  was  known  to  no  one  but 
the  person  in  whose  mind  it  was  formed)  and  men- 
tally command  the  table  to  produce  the  numbers  at 
the  same  time.  What  was  the  result?  Why,  the 
number  of  the  most  powerful  operator,  or  as  the 
spiritualists  would  term  it,  "  medium,"  that  is  the  per- 
son with  the  strongest  will,  was  invariably  produced. 

Whether  his  number  was  the  highest  or  the  lowest, 
the  table  would  obey  him.  If  his  number  were  the 
highest,  it  was  noticed  that  the  raps  were  not  so 
strong  after  they  passed  the  number  of  the  less  power- 
ful operator,  for  then  the  wills  ceased  to  operate  to- 
gether, and  commenced  a  struggle  against  each  other, 
but  still  the  raps  continued,  until  the  higher  number 
was  indicated.  If  the  number  of  the  strongest  opera- 
tor was  the  lowest,  the  raps  refused  to  continue  after 
it  was  indicated.  The  strongest  will  invariably  pre- 
vailed. Let  this  fact  be  particularly  noted,  for,  with 
it  we  shall  have  no  difficulty  in  understanding  why 
the  spiritualist  could  not  produce  the  phenomena  be- 
fore the  Cambridge  investigators.  True,  raps  were 
produced  at  the  commencement  of  this  investigation, 
but  they  even  failed  to  produce  these  toward  its 
close,  which  fact  still  further  strengthens  the  theory, 
we  are  attempting  to  establish. 

But,  let  us  return  to  the  experiments.  Names 
were  written  upon  pieces  of  paper,  which  were  care- 
fully folded,  and  the  names  were  spelled  out  by 
means  of  the  raps.  Let  us  here  note  another  char- 
acteristic feature.  Neither  names  nor  numbers  can 
be  rapped  out,  without  they  are  present  in  the  mind 
of  some  one  or  more  of  the  persons,  who  are  dis- 
posing of  the  natural  force  which  produces  the  phe- 
nomenon. If  the  name  or  number  is  suggested  in 
the  mind  of  any  one  of  the  experimenters  it  may  easily 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  379 

be  rapped  out.  But  let  it  be  proposed  that  the  raps 
spell  out  a  certain  name  or  sentence  which  can  not 
possibly  be  in  the  mind  of  any  person  present,  and  see 
then  if  the  spirits  will  exercise  their  mystic  power. 
For  instance,  take  up  a  book,  and  demand  that  a  cer- 
tain line  on  a  certain  page  which  you  name,  without 
knowing  yourself  or  permitting  others  to  know  what 
is  contained  in  that  line,  and  then  see  if  it  will  be 
rapped  out  correctly.  Such  a  thing  never  has  been 
or  never  will  be  done.  Hence  whatever  the  mys- 
terious agency  is  which  produces  this  phenomenon, 
it  is  disposed  of  by  the  human  mind  or  will. 

But  to  proceed  with  the  experiments.  The  next 
object  was  to  produce  elevations  and  revolutions. 
It  must  here  be  remarked  that  the  experimenters 
acquired  skill  in  these  operations  by  practice  and 
study,  just  as  in  any  other  human  business  or  profes- 
sion. Hence,  as  they  advanced  with  the  experiments, 
they  gained  more  complete  control  over  the  table,  and 
phenomena,  which  they  could  not  possibly  produce  at 
their  commencement,  were  produced  with  the  greatest 
ease  before  the  close.  They  were  continued  during 
five  months.  Accordingly,  after  they  had  made  suffi- 
cient progress,  elevations  and  revolutions  were  easily 
produced,  and  they  then  proceeded  to  achieve  the 
grand  result  of  all  their  efforts.  This  was  to  produce 
elevation  without  contact.  This  was  accomplished  in 
a  feeble  manner  at  first,  but  as  they  acquired  the  art, 
they  also  acquired  the  power  over  the  table,  un- 
til finally  it  was  elevated  with  heavy  weights  upon  it, 
without  the  application  of  any  known  physical  power. 
The  circle  was  formed  by  forming  a  united  chain  of 
hands  directly  above  the  edge  of  the  table,  and  each 
person  exerted  the  whole  power  of  his  will  to  cause 
that  portion  of  the  table  directly  under  his  hand  to 
rise.  Thus  was  produced,  without  the  aid  of  any 


380  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

spiritual  influence,  all  the  material  phenomena  upon 
which  the  spiritualistic  theory  is  founded.* 

It  will  undoubtedly  seem  strange  that  persons  can 
produce  these  raps,  and  move  a  table  loaded  with 
weight  without  the  application  of  any  visible  human 
power.  It  is  so  contrary  to  the  common  experience 
of  life,  that  we  are  apt  to  discard  the  idea  without  a 
moment's  consideration.  But  if  we  can  not  success- 
fully deny  the  existence  of  the  phenomena,  how  are 
we  to  dispose  of  the  fact.  Undoubtedly,  if  they 
exist,  they  are  the  legitimate  effects  of  a  cause,  and 
if  the  known  elements  of  science  fail  to  explain  this 
cause,  it  is  surely  our  duty,  in  forming  our  belief,  to 
adopt  as  true  those  views  which  are  sanctioned  by 
the  dictates  of  enlightened  reason,  and  founded  upon 
the  most  reliable  facts  which  we  possess. 

But  it  is  asserted  by  leading  scientific  men,  that 
these  facts  do  not  exist,  and  all  these  pretended  phe- 
nomena are  produced  by  fraud.  Let  us  examine  this 
hypothesis  of  fraud ;  and,  first,  in  regard  to  the  ex- 
periments of  Count  de  Gasparin,  which  have  been 
briefly  noticed.  Here  it  is  necessary  that  the  Count 
must  either  be  charged  with  being  guilty  of  wilful 
falsehood,  in  asserting  that  phenomena  were  produced 
which  he  knew  were  not,  or  these  phenomena  being 
produced  as  he  has  recorded  them,  were  produced  by 
fraud.  The  first  of  these  charges  is  wholly  unten- 
able. The  character  of  the  Count,  as  to  integrity  and 
veracity,  is  entirely  irreproachable,  so  much  so  that 
the  most  bitter  of  his  opponents  do  not  attempt  to 
overthrow  his  theory  by  assailing  it  at  this  point. 
The  record  must,  therefore,  be  received  as  authentic. 
The  question  of  his  being  deceived  is  merged  in  the 

*  For  a  full  account  of  these  experiments,  see  Count  De  Gas- 
parin's  Treatise  on  Table-Tilting  and  the  False  Supernatural, 
published  by  Kiggins  &  Kellogg,  N.  Y. 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  381 

question  of  fraud,    for   he    could  not  be   deceived 
except  by  the  secret  fraud  of  his  cooperators. 

Now  as  to  the  fraud.  He  was  assisted  in  these 
experiments  by  persons,  male  and  female,  of  known 
integrity,  who  were  not  believers  in  spiritualism,  and 
had  no  other  object  in  view  but  that  of  eliciting 
truth.  True,  they  felt  a  deep  interest  in  the  success 
of  the  experiments,  but,  as  they  had  no  other  object 
in  view  but  to  ascertain  the  truth,  could  that  object 
be  attained  or  promoted  by  achieving  an  apparent 
success  by  means  of  fraud.  This  would  only  be  per- 
petrating a  fraud  against  themselves,  which  is  by  no 
means  a  supposable  case.  Again :  in  order  to  sus- 
tain the  supposition  of  fraud,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
establish  the  charge  of  dishonesty  against  the  whole 
company;  for,  while  they  were  employed  for  one 
purpose,  they  have  dishonestly  used  all  their  efforts 
to  accomplish  an  other,  that  is,  to  establish  error  in- 
stead of  truth.  It  is  not  at  all  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  persons  of  high  character,  without  any  induce- 
ment whatever,  would  direct  all  their  efforts  to  defeat 
the  very  purpose  which  they  so  much  desired  to 
accomplish.  Yet,  again,  even  supposing  that  there 
were  those  in  the  company  who  were  such  unaccount- 
able dunces  as  to  act  dishonestly  when  there  was  no 
reward  offered  for  their  villainy,  how  could  their 
attempts  at  fraud  escape  the  close  observation  of  the 
Count,  whose  integrity  is  an  established  fact?  and  it 
is  also  entirely  allowable,  that  there  were  at  least 
three  or  four  honest  ones  in  a  company  of  a  dozen 
selected  persons,  and  that  these  were  paying  strict 
attention  to  the  progress  of  the  experiments.  It  is 
quite  impossible  that,  in  the  most  supposable  case, 
undetected  fraud  could  have  been  practiced;  and 
especially  is  this  so  when  we  consider  the  simple 
means  used,  that  of  a  plain  table  with  three  legs,  and 


382          MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIEJ 

always  used  in  broad  daylight.  We  are,  therefore, 
forced  to  adopt  the  conclusion  that  these  phenomena 
were  produced  in  the  manner  described. 

Now,  if  these  phenomena  were  thus  produced  in 
Europe,  they  may  be  produced  in  the  same  way  in 
America.  Precisely  the  same  principles  of  nature 
which  prevail  there,  also  prevail  here.  Accordingly, 
we  see  that  the  spiritualists  here,  when  they  produce 
these  phenomena,  are  obliged  to  comply  with  pre- 
cisely the  same  conditions  which  the  Count  did  there, 
and  whenever  they  strictly  do  this  the  phenomena 
are  invariably  produced,  and  whenever  they  do  not, 
they  invariably  fail.  Thus  these  facts  prove  each 
other.  We  know  that  these  phenomena  may  be  pro- 
duced, in  America,  because  they  were  produced  in 
Europe,  and  we  know  that  they  could  be  produced 
in  Europe  because  they  are  every  day  produced  in 
America. 

It  seems  that  this  should  dispose  of  the  question 
of  fraud ;  but  let  us  look  to  the  foundation  upon 
which  this  hypothesis  stands  in  the  United  States. 
It  stands  upon  the  foundation  that  all  the  spirit- 
ualists are  not  only  dishonest  but  willful  deceivers. 
How  is  it  possible  to  suppose  that  any  system  of 
fraud  could  be  so  universally  practiced,  and  yet 
remain  undetected  by  the  very  persons  who  practice 
it.  If  they  practice  it  knowingly,  they  are  dishonest. 
But  it  will  be  said  that  the  mediums  only  practice 
the  fraud,  and  the  others  are  honestly  deceived  by  it. 
Now,  if  this  be  true,  this  fraud  must  be  reduced  to 
some  definite  system.  It  is  utterly  impossible  that 
these  raps  and  table  elevations  could  be  produced 
without  the  application  of  any  visible  human  power, 
in  very  many  different  ways,  or  that  each  of  the 
mediums  in  the  United  States  invents  his  or  her 
own  system  of  fraud,  and  that  this  is  so  ingeniously 


MODERN  SPIRITUALISM.  383 

concealed  that  it  remains  beyond  the  reach  of  hu- 
man scrutiny.  There  must  necessarily  be  concert 
of  action  among  them,  and  the  fraudulent  means  by 
which  these  phenomena  are  produced  must  be  re- 
duced to  a  definite  and  single  system,  for  they 
all  operate  in  the  same  way,  and  produce  the  same 
effects.  Hence,  in  order  to  become  a  medium,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  be  initiated  into  the  mysteries 
of  this  dishonest  gang  of  deceivers,  and  mediums  can 
be  made  only  by  explaining  to  the  new  operator  the 
manner  in  which  this  fraud  is  practiced. 

But  it  is  well  known  by  every  person  who  has 
been  a  careful  observer  of  spiritualism,  that  this  is 
certainly  untrue.  We  have  seen  persons  affected 
with  this  influence  who  were  not  believers  in  spirit- 
ualism, and  who  steadily  strived  against  it,  and  who 
therefore  would  be  the  last  ones  to  whom  this  un- 
fathomable secret  would  be  confided.  We  have  seen 
persons  become  mediums  whose  sincerity  and  in- 
tegrity are  beyond  all  question.  But  why  is  this? 
It  is  because  the  delusion  has  assumed  an  epidemical 
character.  Mental  disease  is  frequently  contagious 
as  well  as  physical  disease.  This  is  settled  beyond 
all  question.  All  the  great  delusions  which  have 
distracted  the  human  race  have  prevailed  as  epidem- 
ics. The  Camisard,  Jansenist,  Loudun,  and  Salem 
delusions  were  all  eminently  so.  The  phenomena  in 
each  of  these  delusions  were  at  first  manifested  by 
a  very  few  persons,  but  the  contagion  spread  until 
it  numbered  its  victims  by  hundreds  and  thousands. 
This  is  the  result  of  the  natural  sympathy  which 
exists  between  congenial  minds.  All  minds  that 
are  in  the  proper  condition  to  contract  the  disease, 
are  quite  sure  to  take  it  when  they  are  brought  un- 
der the  influence  of  the  mental  contagion,  just  as  per- 
sons whose  physical  systems  are  in  a  certain  condition, 


384  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

contract  disease  when  brought  under  the  influence 
of  physical  contagion.  It  is  in  accordance  with 
these  principles,  that  when  the  delusion  of  spiritual- 
ism is  prevailing  very  intensely  in  a  community,  it 
assumes  an  epidemical  character.  We  have  had 
numerous  instances  in  this  country  of  this  contagion 
sweeping  whole  neighborhoods,  almost  every  person 
in  it  being  affected  by  strange  and  involuntary  mo- 
tions and  jerkings,  and  making  many  demoniac  de- 
monstrations under  its  influence.  Hence,  we  per- 
ceive the  great  similarity  which  exists  between  this 
delusion  and  the  others  which  we  have  noticed.  In 
those  the  victims  had  convulsions  and  ecstacies,  and 
in  the  midst  of  their  deliriums  spoke  words  of  in- 
spiration; in  this  they  frequently  have  a  kind  of 
dance,  and  make  involuntary  motions  with  the  head 
and  limbs,  have  trances,  and  receive  inspiration  di- 
rectly from  the  spirit-world. 

Hence  we  see  that  these  phenomena  are  produced 
in  cases  to  which  the  hypothesis  of  fraud  is  utterly 
inapplicable.  But  let  us  view  it  in  still  another 
light.  Suppose  we  admit  that  the  above  argument 
is  unsound,  and  that  there  is  no  certain  fixed  system 
of  fraud  by  which  the  mediums,  one  and  all,  operate. 
What  then  ?  Why,  in  this  case,  if  these  manifesta- 
tions are  produced  by  fraud,  of  course  each  medium 
has  to  resort  to  his  or  her  own  ingenuity  to  invent 
the  means  by  which  they  are  produced.  How,  then, 
does  it  happen,  that  the  most  innocent  and  harmless 
girls,  those  who  are  most  untutored  in  the  cunning 
devices  of  men,  very  frequently  become  the  most 
powerful  mediums.  We  fear  not  to  venture  the 
assertion,  that  human  ingenuity  is  incapable  of  in- 
venting a  scheme  of  fraud  which  can  be  carried  into 
such  extensive  practice,  even  though  it  were  in- 
trusted to  none  but  the  most  skillful  operators,  and 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  385 

be  subjected  to  the  severe  scrutiny  which  spiritual- 
ism has  undergone,  and  yet  the  fraudulent  means 
remain  undetected.  And,  yet  it  must  be  supposed 
that  these  unlearned,  unsophisticated  girls,  who  have 
never  been  beyond  the  limits  of  their  own  neigh- 
borhood, and  who  never  heard  of  the  deceiving 
tricks  used  by  rogues  and  wizards,  girls  with  hearts 
as  pure  as  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  virtuous  woman, 
and  desires  and  intentions  as  sincere  as  ever  urged 
a  human  being  to  a  good  act,  girls  such  as  these, 
utterly  incapable  of  acting  such  a  part,  if  they  would, 
must  not  only  successfully  practice  a  scheme  of 
fraud  which  puzzles  the  sharpest  human  sagacity, 
but  they  must  also,  individually,  invent  the  means  by 
which  it  is  practiced.  Surely,  those  who  attempt  to 
explain  these  mysterious  phenomena  by  asserting 
that  they  are  produced  by  fraud,  have  never  beheld 
them  as  they  are  manifested  in  the  country,  among 
the  virtuous  and  truly  sincere,  but  unlearned  classes. 
Whether  we  suppose  these  phenomena  are  pro- 
duced by  a  fixed  system  of  fraud,  by  which  all  the 
mediums  operate,  or  that  each  medium  resorts  to  his 
or  her  own  mode  of  producing  them,  both  are  alike 
ridiculous.  How  can  it  be  supposed,  that  if  they 
were  produced  by  fraud,  the  fraudulent  means  could 
for  a  single  day  remain  undetected  ?  Why,  the 
fearful  secret  is  intrusted  to  boys  and  girls,  men, 
women  and  children.  Mediums  flood  every  portion 
of  the  country,  and  they  generally  consist  of  the  most 
unlearned  and  unskillful  portion  of  the  community. 
Will  it  be  said  that  if  we  call  upon  any  of  this  motley 
crew  to  practice  before  our  eyes  a  system  of  fraud 
which  is  entirely  free  from  any  visible  means  of 
concealment,  that  they  can  do  it  in  such  an  adroit 
manner  that  we  can  not  discover  the  fraudulent 
33 


386          MODERN   FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

means  ?  If  spiritualism  rested  upon  such  a  system 
of  fraud,  the  practice  of  which  -would  necessarily 
require  such  consummate  skill  and  adroitness,  while 
its  manifestations  are  intrusted  to  so  many  bungling 
operators  as  it  is,  it  would  be  exposed  more  than 
a  hundred  times  in  less  than  tAventy-four  hours. 
What !  a  mere  illiterate,  unskilled  country  girl  can 
practice  a  system  of  legerdemain  before  us  without 
any  training  in  the  art,  so  perfectly  that  the  best 
of  us  can  not  discover  the  mode  in  which  it  is  done  ? 
Truly  it  seems  nonsense  to  refute  such  an  idea,  yet  it 
is  the  avowed  belief  of  some  of  the  most  scientific  men 
in  our  country.  They  have  detected  a  few  instances 
of  fraud,  and  been  present  at  a  few  sittings  where 
the  phenomena  could  not  be  produced,  because  the 
necessary  conditions  were  not  complied  with,  and 
therefore  they  conclude  that  these  phenomena  can 
not  be  produced  unless  by  fraud. 

We  do  not  deny  that  there  are  many  instances  in 
which  raps  and  table  tilting  are  effected  by  fraud,  but 
this  we  confidently  assert,  that  while  the  experiments 
are  confined  to  naked  tables,  and  the  operator  con- 
sists of  a  very  awkward,  bungling  person,  who  happens 
to  become  a  medium,  the  fraud  can  be  detected  in 
every  instance  by  any  thing  like  common  observa- 
tion. It  is  no  part  of  our  purpose  to  account  for 
these  fraudulent  phenomena.  We  throw  them  en- 
tirely out  of  the  argument  as  unworthy  of  consider- 
ation, and  shall  be  well  contented  if  we  succeed  in 
satisfactorily  explaining  those  in  the  production  of 
which  no  fraud  can  be  detected.  Those  who  assert 
that  none  such  in  reality  exist,  certainly  have  never 
seen  spiritualism  in  its  prosperity,  as  it  exists  in 
many  parts  of  the  country,  where  all  the  essential 
conditions  are  properly  complied  with,  and  phenom- 


MODERN    SPIRITUALISM.  387 

ena  are  readily  produced  which  seems  to  be  shrouded 
in  impenetrable  mystery,  and  calculated  to  astound 
the  minds  of  •well-disposed  and  sincere  persons. 

The  points  in  the  argument  that  the  phenomena  do 
exist,  and  that  they  are  not  produced  by  fraud,  are 
now  sufficiently  established.  We  have  next  to  decide 
the  question  of  their  spirituality.  The  absurdity  of 
such  a  belief  has  already  been  demonstrated  in  this 
argument,  but  as  this  is  the  important  point,  let  us 
offer  a  few  more  thoughts  upon  the  subject.  Throw- 
ing aside  the  evidence  already  offered,  is  it  not  more 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  these  phenomena  are  pro- 
duced by  some  innate  power  which  resides  in  the  hu- 
man organization,  and  is  effectually  disposed  of  under 
certain  conditions,  than  to  suppose  it  is  the  effect  of 
some  supernatural  agency.  Why,  the  only  argu- 
ment it  has  in  favor  of  its  supernaturalism,  is,  that 
it  is  a  little  out  of  the  regular  course  of  common 
experience.  The  argument  is  just  this,  that  persons 
ignorant  of  nature  can  not  understand  how  these  phe- 
nomena can  be  the  effect  of  a  natural  cause,  there- 
fore they  are  the  effects  of  a  supernatural  cause,  and 
it  just  amounts  to  this,  that  all  the  phenomena  that 
man  can  not  understand  are  not  the  effects  of  nat- 
ural causes,  because  he  can  not  understand  it  so,  and 
all  the  phenomena  which  appears  mysterious  to  him 
are  produced  by  ghosts,  departed  spirits,  or  some 
other  rambling,  supernatural  phantoms,  and  when 
fully  developed  the  argument  amounts  to  this :  there 
was  a  time  when  man  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the 
causes  of  all  the  phenomena  manifested  in  nature, 
therefore,  all  that  time  all  natural  phenomena  was 
produced  by  spirits  and  goblins.  Hence  man's  be- 
lief in  the  false  supernatural  being  the  consequence 
of  his  ignorance;  as  before  remarked,  this  belief 


388  MODERN  FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

lias  prevailed  just  in  proportion  with  his  ignorance. 
When  ignorance  universally  prevailed,  this  belief 
also  universally  prevailed.  Hence  the  folly  of  at- 
tributing to  supernatural  causes  those  phenomena  of 
which,  through  our  own  ignorance,  we  can  not  com- 
prehend the  natural  causes.  It  is  precisely  this  dis- 
position in  man  which  has  led  him  into  the  grossest 
errors  that  have  ever  disgraced  human  rationality. 

We  will  be  guilty  of  offering  but  one  more  refuta- 
tion to  the  absurd  idea  of  the  spirituality  of  these 
phenomena.  According  to  the  creed  of  spiritualism, 
the  soul  and  body  are  separated  at  death,  and  while 
the  physical  or  material  part  of  man  is  returned  to 
its  mother  dust,  the  spirit,  or  immaterial  principle 
of  humanity,  is  "  born  in  the  spirit-world."  Now, 
this  state  of  perfect  spirituality  of  course  precludes 
all  idea  of  materiality.  The  soul,  or  spirit,  in  that 
state,  is  entirely  disconnected  from  all  material  sub- 
stance. This  is  very  good  doctrine,  but  it  is  entirely 
fatal  to  the  theory  of  modern  spiritualism. 

Now,  if  the  soul  or  spirit  is  immaterial,  Ave  will 
just  ask  them  to  explain  how  an  immaterial  sub- 
stance can  produce  material  phenomena.  No  one 
will  deny  that  table-rapping  and  tilting  are  entirely 
material  phenomena.  They  may  say  that  in  our 
present  state  of  being,  we  can  not  fully  comprehend 
the  nature  and  power  of  departed  spirits ;  but  they 
tell  us  that  the  spirit  is  an  immaterial  substance,  and 
this  proposition  is  quite  intelligible.  There  is  no 
psychological  mystery  about  it.  Having  told  us  this, 
we  just  want  to  know  one  thing  more,  and  that  is, 
how  a  spiritual  or  immaterial  substance  can  knock 
upon  a  table,  or  exert  the  physical  force  which  is 
absolutely  necessary  to  produce  these  material  phe- 
nomena. It  is  the  founding  principle  of  their  theory 
that  there  is  no  physical  or  natural  force  or  substance 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  389 

employed  in  producing  this  knocking  and  moving, 
but  that  it  is  exclusively  the  work  of  the  spirits. 
The  idea  is  supremely  ridiculous;  and  having  set 
these  antagonisms  against  each  other,  we  leave  them 
to  destroy  themselves. 

But,  in  all  the  wide  circle  of  human  error,  what 
can  be  more  grossly  ridiculous,  or  more  destitute  of 
every  vestige  of  reason  and  common  sense,  than  the 
idea  that  the  spirits  of  dead  men,  which  have  winged 
their  eternal  flight  from  earthly  spheres,  can  be  in- 
duced to  return  to  earth  again  and  perform  physical 
deeds  simply  by  a  number  of  persons  forming  a  chain 
of  hands  around  a  wooden  table.  Persons  join  their 
hands  together,  and  immediately  communication  is 
opened  up  with  the  spirit-world.  The  spirits  of  our 
great  men,  who  were  so  busily  engaged  in  good  works 
while  on  earth,  seem  to  be  entirely  idle  there,  and 
have  nothing  else  to  do  but  to  attend  the  commands 
of  these  persons,  and  answer  their  silly  questions, 
and  the  spirits  of  men  who  were  distinguished  on 
earth  for  their  genius  and  learning,  seem  to  have 
been  entirely  divested  of  common  sense  by  assuming 
the  spiritual  nature,  and  frequently  return  answers 
which  could  only  originate  in  the  mind  of  a  vulgar 
fool.  Those  immortal  bards,  whose  human  poetry 
will  stand  a  living  beauty  through  all  the  ages  of 
time,  send  back  to  us  the  most  vulgar  doggerel,  as  the 
result  of  their  spiritual  efforts ;  and  men  whose  words 
will  always  charm  the  human  mind,  send  us  back 
communications  in  nonsensical  and  ungrammatical 
sentences.  But  form  the  chain  of  hands,  and  imme- 
diately the  spirit  world  is  aroused.  It  requires  but 
a  moment  to  send  a  communication  to  the  spirit 
world,  and  not  merely  get  a  reply,  but  have  any 
desired  spirit  transported  back  to  earth,  and  per- 
forming all  kinds  of  physical  feats  with  the  furniture 


390  MODERN    FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

of  the  room.  It  does  seem  to  us  the  strangest  of  all 
the  features  which  have  been  developed  in  human 
nature,  that  intelligent  rational  beings  can  be  de- 
luded by  such  miserable  phantoms.  How  can  per- 
sons who  believe  there  is  a  word  of  truth  in  the  Bible, 
believe  doctrines  which  so  completely  defeat  its  letter 
and  spirit?  How  can  persons  who  believe  in  one 
Omnipotent  Supreme  being,  adopt  opinions  which, 
if  they  were  true,  would  contravene  the  most  obvious 
principles  of  His  natural  government  ?  They  desert 
all  the  realities  of  the  world  to  follow  a  mysterious 
phantom,  and  believe  it  to  be  a  supernatural  exist- 
ence merely  because  they  can  not  see  how  it  can  be 
a  terrestrial  animal. 

But  as  these  phenomena  exist,  and  are  not  pro- 
duced either  by  fraud  or  spiritual  intercourse,  we 
now  come  to  the  important  consideration  of  how  they 
are  produced,  and  this  will  close  the  argument.  We 
have  seen  that,  by  forming  a  circle  in  the  proper 
manner,  raps  may  be  produced  and  a  table  moved 
without  the  application  of  any  visible  physical  force. 
Inertion  is  the  natural  condition  of  all  material 
bodies,  and  we  can  not  conceive  of  motion  without 
the  exertion  of  force.  It  is  because  this  idea  is 
immovably  fixed  in  the  human  mind,  and  we  form 
all  our  belief  and  opinions  in  accordance  with  it,  that 
the  spiritualists  have  been  led  to  attribute  to  super- 
natural agency  the  force  which  produces  the  mys- 
terious motion  under  consideration.  Force  is  either 
physical  or  supernatural.  Physical  force  is  that 
which  is  produced  by  the  operation  of  natural  causes ; 
supernatural  force  is  the  exertion  of  some  power  which 
does  not  result  from  the  operation  of  a  natural  cause. 
The  one  results  from  the  operations  of  the  laws  by 
which  God  governs  the  natural  universe,  the  other  is 
the  direct  interposition  of  the  power  of  God.  We 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  391 

acknowledge  no  supernatural  existence  which  exerts 
any  control  over  the  affairs  of  this  world  except  God 
alone. 

As  all  motion  is  produced  by  the  exertion  of  force, 
and  as  the  spiritualists  have  observed  a  motion  which 
is  produced  by  no  known  physical  force,  they  con- 
clude that  it  must  be  produced  by  supernatural  force. 
But  this  results  entirely  from  the  ignorance  of  man 
in  regard  to  the  subject  of  natural  forces.  We  have 
already  shown  that  the  distinctive  characteristics  of 
these  phenomena,  prove  that  they  can  not  be  the 
effects  of  supernatural  causes;  we  are,  therefore, 
necessarily  driven  back  to  search  among  physical 
forces  for  their  true  causes,  and  if  they  can  not  be 
found  there,  man  must,  for  the  present,  at  least,  con- 
fess the  inefficiency  of  his  knowledge  to  solve  the 
mystery.  But  the  experiments  which  have  been 
made,  and  the  progress  of  spiritualism  itself,  have 
fortunately  enabled  us  to  discover  the  existence  of 
a  physical  force  before  unknown.  This  force  Gas- 
parin  has  termed  the  Fluid  Action,  but  from  its  pe- 
culiar character,  and  for  the  want  of  a  scientific 
technicality,  we  prefer  to  call  it  the  Magnetic  Force. 
The  experiments  have  established  that  this  force  is 
innate  in  the  human  organism,  and  that  when  a  num- 
ber of  persons  form  a  continuous  chain  by  connecting 
their  hands  together,  this  magnetic  force  flows  through 
the  whole  circle,  and  may  be  controlled  by  the  person 
in  the  circle  who  possesses  the  magnetic  influence 
in  the  strongest  degree. 

Although  licensed  science  refuses  to  admit  the 
existence  of  this  force,  yet,  every  candid  person  who 
reflects  upon  things  as  they  are  actually  displayed 
before  him,  and  who  seeks  to  shape  his  belief  by  the 
most  reliable  evidence  he  can  obtain,  must  admit  the 
existence  of  this  law  of  nature,  for,  as  these  pheno- 


392  MODERN   FANCIES   AND  FOLLIES. 

mena  exist,  if  they  can  not  be  satisfactorily  explained 
by  the  operation  of  some  such  physical  force,  we 
must  admit  the  truth  of  doctrines  which  no  true 
Christian  can  entertain,  and  which  conflict  with  all 
the  established  principles  of  nature  which  are  known 
to  man.  But  what  is  there  so  unreasonable  about 
this  principle  of  nature,  that  men  of  science  should 
regard  it  with  so  much  suspicion  ?  Its  operation  is 
not  more  mysterious  than  that  of  any  other  natural 
law.  All  final  causes  are  incomprehensible  to  the 
human  mind.  Why  do  these  ponderous  globes  whirl 
through  illimitable  space,  and  each  one  perform  its 
established  revolution.  Men  of  science  tell  us  that 
it  is  because  of  the  law  of  gravity ;  but  we  all  know 
that,  and  further  than  that,  human  intellect  can  not 
delve  into  the  mystery.  If,  then,  we  are  asked  what 
it  is  that  produces  these  rapping  phenomena,  we  an- 
swer, that  it  is  the  operation  of  a  natural  principle ; 
but  if  we  are  asked  why  these  eifects  result,  we  will 
answer  when  we  are  told  why  the  sun  attracts  the 
earth.  The  experiments  and  investigations  which 
establish  the  existence  of  this  natural  principle,  so 
far  as  they  have  progressed,  are  as  conclusive  as 
those  which  establish  the  principle  of  gravitation. 
Hence  it  is  just  as  reasonable  that  this  law  should 
exist  as  any  other  natural  law.  It  has  the  same 
cause  with  all  natural  laws ;  the  great  First  Cause, 
which  can  not  possibly  be  comprehended  by  human 
intellect. 

But  the  most  singular  characteristic  of  this  mag- 
netic force  is,  that  it  is  disposed  of  by  the  human 
will,  and  it  is  this  peculiar  trait  alone  which  has  in- 
duced man  to  attribute  its  manifestations  to  super- 
natural force.  When  persons  have  beheld  their  own 
secret  thoughts  reproduced  by  this  mysterious  agency, 
the  inducements  to  look  beyond  the  sphere  of  nature 


MODERN    SPIRITUALISM.  393 

for  the  cause,  is  quite  irresistible.  But  it  has  been 
shown,  when  reviewing  the  experiments,  that  all  this 
can  readily  be  done  in  defiance  of  the  spirits.  We 
asked  the  reader  to  particularly  note,  that  some  per- 
sons possessed  this  power  in  a  much  stronger  degree 
than  others,  that  these  phenomena  could  in  no  case 
be  produced,  unless  there  was  a  strenuous  exertion 
of  the  will,  and  that  the  will  of  the  most  powerful 
operator  or  medium,  invariably  prevailed.  We  can 
now  explain  why  it  was  that  the  phenomena  were 
not  produced  before  the  Cambridge  investigators. 
The  investigators  were  intensely  prejudiced  against 
spiritualism,  and  they  exerted  the  utmost  power  of 
their  wills  to  prevent  the  production  of  the  phe- 
nomena, and  as  they  were  all  men  of  extraordinary 
mental  powers,  the  consequent  failure  was  in  complete 
accordance  with  the  principles  we  have  explained. 
There  were  but  two  or  three  professed  spiritual  me- 
diums present,  and  very  few  spiritualists,  and  all 
these  were  persons  whose  mental  powers  were  infi- 
nitely inferior  to  those  who  opposed  them. 

Had  the  spiritualists,  under  these  circumstances, 
been  as  successful  as  usual  in  producing  the  pheno- 
mena, it  would  have  shown  at  once,  that  there  is  no 
reliance  to  be  placed  in  the  theory  of  the  magnetic 
force,  but  their  almost  entire  failure  adds  more  con- 
clusive evidence  to  the  truth  of  its  existence.  In- 
deed, leading  spiritualists  have  repeatedly  admitted, 
that  they  could  not  produce  this  phenomena  against 
a  strong  battery  of  opposing  wills.  They  have  too 
frequently  seen  the  fact  demonstrated  that  the  spi- 
rits obstinately  refuse  to  quit  their  mystic  spheres  to 
manifest  their  presence  among  mortals,  where  the 
odds  is  too  much  in  favor  of  the  unbelievers.  But, 
because  the  phenomena  were  not  produced  in  this 
single  instance,  as  under  the  circumstances  it  was 


394  MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

impossible  they  could,  the  literati  conclude,  that  the 
delusion  of  spiritualism  is  founded  upon  a  system 
of  fraud,  and  that  these  phenomena  can  not  be  pro- 
duced by  natural  causes.  We  are  entirely  confident 
that  were  all  the  necessary  conditions  properly  com- 
plied with,  and  although  these  same  professors  were 
present,  and  keeping  a  sharp  look  out  for  fraud,  but 
exerting  their  minds  to  produce  the  phenomena  in- 
stead of  striving  to  prevent  their  production,  the 
phenomena  will  be  produced  in  every  instance,  and 
again,  we  are  confident  that  where  there  is  such  a 
battery  of  opposing  minds  as  there  was  at  the  Cam- 
bridge investigation,  with  no  more  power  to  produce 
the  magnetic  force  upon  the  affirmative  side  than 
there  was  there,  the  opposing  side  will  invariably 
prevail,  and  the  phenomena  can  not  be  produced 
with  energy  in  a  single  instance. 

Such  is  the  law  of  the  magnetic  force  upon  which  is 
based  the  delusion  of  modern  spiritualism.  The  dis- 
covery of  this  natural  law  is  yet  in  its  infancy,  and 
its  investigation  has  just  commenced.  But  science, 
both  in  Europe  and  America,  is  retarding  instead  of 
aiding  this  investigation.  It  will  neither  admit  its 
existence  nor  investigate.  It  has  prejudged  the  case, 
and  refuses  it  an  impartial  hearing.  Are  those  men 
who  are  armed  and  equipped  with  the  weapons  of 
science  for  the  express  purpose  of  carrying  its  con- 
quests into  the  regions  of  unknown  principles,  dis- 
charging their  duty  while  they  are  only  occupying 
their  old  fortified  camps,  without  making  an  effort  to 
advance  into  the  country  of  the  enemy  ?  The  science 
of  the  present  day  stands  amazed  and  powerless  in 
the  presence  of  these  newly  developed  phenomena, 
and  because  they  will  not  conform  to  the  principles 
which  it  has  licensed  as  true,  it  assumes  a  sullen 
dignity,  and  regards  them  with  contempt,  because  it 


MODERN   SPIRITUALISM.  395 

is  beyond  its  power  to  explain  them.  This  totally 
defeats  the  true  aim  of  science.  It  is  not  the  duty 
of  nature  to  adapt  itself  to  science,  but  it  is  the 
province  and  design  of  science  to  adapt  itself  to,  and 
explain  the  principles  of  nature.  If  men  of  science 
would  earnestly  seek  to  discover  the  principles  of 
nature  in  regard  to  these  phenomena,  this  monstrous 
delusion,  which  is  rapidly  spreading  itself  and  extend- 
ing to  all  classes  of  community,  would  soon  be  com- 
pletely exploded,  and  numbers  of  our  sincere  and 
useful  citizens,  diverted  from  the  ways  of  error  and 
directed  into  the  paths  of  truth.  Until  science  does 
this  it  is  a  traitor  to  the  cause  of  truth. 

We  have  now  examined  all  the  mysteries  which 
properly  belong  to  spiritualism.  We  trust  its  ad- 
vocates will  excuse  us  if  we  decline  to  investigate 
what  they  choose  to  denominate  its  higher  circles, 
for  the  very  sufficient  reason  that  they  have  no 
legitimate  connection  whatever  with  spiritualism. 
Speaking  and  healing  mediums,  trance-speaking,  im- 
penetration  of  thought,  somnambulism,  and  clairvoy- 
ance were  all  produced  by  animal  magnetism,  just 
as  perfectly  as  they  are  now  reproduced  by  pre- 
tended spiritual  intercourse,  more  than  fifty  years 
before  ever  a  rapping  spirit  was  heard  of.  They  are 
the  same  phenomena  without  any  material  variation. 
We  shall,  therefore,  without  ceremony,  just  return 
this  stolen  property  to  its  rightful  owners.  There  are 
very  strange  and  mysterious  phenomena  connected 
with  this  subject  which  we  might  explain  were  it  to 
our  present  purpose,  but  we  shall  not  write  a  treatise 
upon  animal  magnetism  while  we  are  treating  of 
modern  spiritualism. 

Mesmer  produced  all  these  phenomena  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  the  eighteenth  century  just  as  perfectly, 
without  any  pretension  to  supernatural  aid,  as  the 


396      .     MODERN  FANCIES  AND  FOLLIES. 

spiritualists  produce  them  to-day.  Persons  now  be- 
come somnambulists  and  clairvoyants  in  the  same 
manner  that  they  did  then,  and  the  same  phenomena, 
such  as  trance-speaking,  increased  power  of  thought, 
and  impenetration  of  thought,  which  were  the  effects 
of  animal  magnetism  in  1780,  become  the  results 
of  spiritual  intercourse  in  1858.  All  this  immense 
fabric  of  delusion  is  built  upon  the  narrow  founda- 
tion of  table  rapping  and  tilting,  and  the  only  excuse 
the  spiritualists  can  have  for  "stealing  the  thunder" 
of  animal  magnetism,  is  because  of  its  strangeness 
and  the  peculiar  qualities  which  it  possesses  for 
astounding  and  confusing  the  public  mind.  Many 
honest  and  capable  minds  have  thus  been  led  astray, 
the  peace  of  many  happy  families  destroyed,  and  the 
brightest  prospects  of  life  have  vanished  before  the 
moral  vampire,  and  hopeless  insanity  has  frequently 
been  the  result.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  man  of 
science,  of  every  Christian  and  philanthropist,  to  unite 
their  efforts  to  roll  back  the  tide  of  this  popular 
delusion.  Let  us  come  into  a  closer  communion  with 
God,  and  learn  his  will  by  ascertaining  the  laws 
•which  he  has  established  for  the  government  of 
man,  and  if  we  obey  these  laws,  we  will  never  be 
driven  upon  the  shoals  of  error  by  those  phenomena 
which  always  appear  in  some  mysterious  shape  when 
man  is  departing  far  from  the  paths  of  truth.  As 
surely  as  God  is  a  beneficent  being,  if  man  will  but 
learn  the  laws  which  govern  human  existence,  and 
let  their  conditions  be  his  rule  of  action,  he  will 
never  be  distracted  and  distressed  by  such  delusions 
as  Jansenism,  witchcraft,  or  spiritualism,  henceforth 
for  ever. 

FINIS. 

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